One Swing sat along the grassy shore of the Surstrom Lake, gazing out towards the tower across its clear waters.
This was One Swing’s favourite place. Whenever he had the time, he would make the long trek out to Surstrom Lake to gaze upon the Surstrom Spire at its center.
Surstrom Spire was a prison. A towering prison that existed in the center of a giant lake. It was a colossal black structure that stretched far above the clouds and into the heavens beyond. An odd arrangement of jagged black pieces, twisting upwards into the sky. And between the strange segments of black layers, glowing veins of red would peek out from beneath, giving the waters of the lake beneath an ominous crimson glow.
Surstrom Spire was the longest thing that One Swing had ever seen. It was said to have been built by the dwarves hundreds of years ago, but even as smart and resourceful as they were, One Swing had never seen something on this scale before. Or even of a similar architecture. It looked like something entirely out of this world to him.
Although he no longer felt animosity towards the short race of people, he still did not believe that the dwarves truly could have built something like this. The story behind this tower was ultimately a total mystery.
Much like the metallic creature with the drill-like horn he stumbled upon a few days prior…
After the kobold examination exam, the adventurers had thanked One Swing for saving their lives, and—having completed their quest—began their journey back to the Capital of Gran Torte.
"You won't be joining us on the trek back, Onesie?" Barbacoa had asked. Both her tone of voice and rugged, wolf-like face was stern and serious, but her words had an odd kindness to them. Although her face never showed it, her thick brown tail would often wave excitedly behind her whenever somebody referred to her as 'Barxy'. The nickname she had assigned to herself.
“If it is fine with you, I would like to visit the Spire before I return to the Capital,” One Swing had replied. “It’s only a few days walk from here, and I’d like to see it.”
"That's fine. Just be sure to return to the Capital when you're done so I can finalize the results of your exam."
Nodding, One Swing left the group of adventurers and continued on into the forest. Making his way out and finding a nearby road, he made the long, sleepless trek across the land and eventually found himself at the Surstrom Lake, gazing out at the Spire itself.
“Oh! I’ve never seen the Spire before! It was almost worth it to come along! Almost.”
Beside him, Arrow Grain was sitting across the shore, also admiring the sight of the Spire beneath the early morning light.
She had decided to follow the man, curious about seeing the colossal black structure for herself. However, unlike One Swing, Arrow was not used to long, sleepless treks, and One Swing found himself having to carry the complaining woman on his back most of the journey, his one-hundred-and-sixty-four foot violet blade slung over his shoulder, trailing fifty-meters above the two of them.
One Swing smirked.
“Definitely.” He nodded. “This has always been my favourite place. Even as a child.”
“I—I don’t know how I should feel about a prison being a child’s ‘favourite place’…”
As they both sat in silence, gazing out across the lake, it was eventually broken by Arrow, a question on her mind.
"Hey… I know Mr. Krumble said not to dig into other adventurers' pasts and all, but…" The elf squirmed awkwardly as she spoke, her eyes still glued to the tower in the distance.
“I don’t mind,” One Swing replied nonchalantly. “Dig away.”
“Ah, well… Mr. Krumble was talking about how you used to be a noble. Is that true?”
“It is.” One Swing nodded, before wriggling the handle of the sword sat atop his shoulder. “But I threw all of that away and sold everything I had in order to forge this sword and pursue my lifelong dreams of becoming the longest.”
“R-right. I still don’t know what that means, but… Is there a reason why you had to throw it away? Was it like Mr. Krumble said? That your family name had been tainted from corruption and you wanted to bury that away?”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Hmm…” One Swing pondered to himself. “I suppose it’s true that the Bags family was rampant with corruption. After Demon Queen Gluttony and her daughters slaughtered their way through the Capital, leaving me as the sole surviving member of my house, I later learned of their vast history of questionable deeds. They were most notable for their contribution towards the slave trade, and using legal loopholes to enslave hundreds of those in small tribes and villages that choose to exist outside of the kingdom’s own laws.”
“That’s horrible… I can see why you wanted to bury that name…”
One Swing shook his head. “That wasn’t why I threw my name away. It was for a different reason.”
“Huh? And that was..?”
“You see, the family name ‘Bags’ is very short, and my parents had named me ‘Tea’. I thought it was awfully humiliating to have such a short family name, as well as a given name that could be shortened to a single letter, and so I threw it away for a much longer one.”
“Why?!” the woman complained, angrily jumping to her feet. “Why are you adventurers so weird?! Just say you threw it away because of corruption! Just say it was because of the slavery thing! Why did a deep heart-to-heart between friends become another stupid gimmick about your obsession with becoming the longest?! I still don’t even know what that means! And the name ‘One Swing’ isn’t even any longer than your old name, dumbass!”
Waiting for the woman to calm herself and sit back down again, One Swing gave his response.
“The name One Swing is one that’s meant to grow alongside my feats as an adventurer,” he said. “Over time, it will become much longer.”
“Of course it will…” Arrow replied with a sigh, sprawling out across the grass at her back and turning her attention to the clouds above. “So, what stupid name will I have to start calling you once you finally become the longest and make it all the way to S-Rank?”
“Well…” One Swing pondered to himself once again. “The title I’ve been aiming towards is, 'The One Swing Sword King and Hero of the Greatest Greatsword Whose One-Hundred-and-Sixty-Four Foot Blade Rends All Within Its Fifty Meter Cleave and Wielder of the Seven-Slaying Star Judgment of Heaven-Piercing Violet Overdrive From Justice's Incarnation of Abyssal Crimson Light That Paves the—'"
“It’s too long!” Arrow complained, interrupting the man and angrily jumping to her feet once again. “Nobody is calling you that! I’m definitely not calling you that! No matter how high up the ranks you climb, or how many feats as an adventurer you pull off, I am sticking to calling you ‘One Swing’ until the day I die!”
One Swing smirked. “Well, I suppose that’s fine too. A nickname between friends isn’t so bad.”
As Arrow calmed herself once again and sat back down beside the man, it was his turn to ask something of her.
“So, why did you become an adventurer then?” One Swing asked.
“Huh? Me? Well… Not for any interesting reason really. It’s kind of a short story.”
“Oh. Well, I don’t want to hear it then.”
“Why?!” Jumping to her feet once again, the woman shouted down at the man who was still gazing out towards the Spire in the distance. “Why are you like this?! Why am I even friends with you?! I went out hunting with my dad one day, learned I was decent with a bow, and decided being an adventurer for a few short decades might be interesting! That’s it! Now you know! I’m sorry my life story wasn’t long enough for you!”
The two of them spent a few more minutes in idle conversation watching the tower in the distance, before Arrow stood to her feet and dusted the grass from her back.
"Well," she said. "I'm heading back to the Capital. I'm not sure if I passed or not, but not knowing is stressing me out, so I’ll catch you there, yeah?”
“Ah, I can walk with you if you want?”
Arrow scoffed. “What, you think I’m walking back? I’m not a weirdo like you! I’m going to take a carriage like a normal person and be back by tomorrow morning! There's bound to be one of those prison wagons heading back. I'm sure they'll give me a ride."
And with that, the woman walked away, leaving One Swing to sit on the grass, still gazing out across the lake at the colossal black tower.
In his favourite place, beneath the warm sun, One Swing felt at peace. The gentle wind blowing his long hair out behind him, as well as the lengthy red scarf snaking out across the grass at his back.
This was a place that One Swing could always come back to. The Spire was something that had stood for hundreds of years, and would surely stand for hundreds more. An unshakable object of pure length with no equal.
Knowing such a thing would stand the test of time, and that a place of peace would always exist for him here, One Swing smirked.