Kenta told his story. While he was travelling he ran out of money. As he did not want to work, he decided to steal some gold. As nobles usually guarded, he was stealing a little from commoners. However when he entered the Miraculous forest, he was attacked by a bear and fell into a pit. While falling he tore his bag and his money scattered. As he had no time to collect them due to bear, following him, Kenta had to escape without them. In the end he found a river and swam away from the bear.

In the forest he did some hunting, but he still needed the money. So when he found the bandits he decided to steal the bag, they were carrying. So he followed them and when they fell asleep, he stalked, took the bag and ran away.

But bandits woke up immediately and began chasing him. In the end Kenta ran into Shun.

Shun listened to the story. Then he stopped, put the hand on his forehead and said with dramatic voice.

-          The circle of nature - from the empty pocket to... the empty pocket. Karma!

While Shun started to laugh, Kenta was annoyed as hell. He was rather pissed earlier, but after the chase and meeting with Shun, he kinda forgot about it. Now,recalling the story made him feel like a loser again. “To meet a bear in this forest, where wild animals are quite rare...To fall and tear the bag with money...To steal from the former soldiers...This chain of bad luck is incredible!”, murmured Kenta. And not to mention Shun made Kenta return the stolen bag, reasoning that they would have taken the bag anyway if Shun had not helped.

Suddenly Kenta remembered the question he wanted to ask Shun earlier.

-          Shun, did you use your sword when you fought with those guys? And when you broke his...And defeated that [Berserk] guy..How did you do it?

Shun stopped laughing and scratched his head. Then made a pose as he’s thinking.

-          Well, let’s see… I used the sword indeed.

He nodded. “How annoying!”, thought Kenta. While accompanying Shun, he got to know several of Shun’s habits. First, before doing or saying anything, Shun scratched his head. Second, when Shun did something he took some strange pose. Third, Shun never answered directly to a question and you had to continue asking him yourself. Sometimes, when Shun was fired up during answering or explanation he was acting as he was on a stage and even making his voice louder. “I wonder whether he was an actor in the past”, thought Kenta.

Travelling actors were not something surprising as there existed traveling theatres. However it’s quite rare to see theatre performer with high sword skills, let alone supreme sword skills, like Shun’s. But Shun's clothes were familiar a little to Kenta, by he was unable to remember where he saw them. “Pff...Well let’s continue that play. But I wonder why he’s acting like this.”.

-          I see. So when that guy said that you put your hand on your sword’s hilt and took it away, he was right?

Shun looked at his sword, as asking him that question, and then answered.

-          Yup! Though I did it quite slow, as they were able to see that move. Aside my master, nobody has been able to see it before.

“Slow my ass...Hm, So he had a master. I wonder what monster was it.”. Shun’s skills were far superior to anyone’s Kenta saw in the past but to imagine, that somebody could teach that - the very idea was incredible.

-          But what was the skill?

-          I call it [Fast Draw]. There is a superior version of this move called [Incredibly Fast Draw] but I have yet to find a need to use it. My teacher said that he had to repeat that move several thousand times a day per several years before mastering it. There are also [Draw] and [Slow Draw]

“With all that eccentric behaviour, I expected this technique to be called like [God’s slash] or [Space cutter]. Yet he has a collection of basic names.”

Overall everything surrounding Shun was surprising. “His teacher was quite a master it seems. Could it be one of the Sword Saints? Or one of the former Sword Saints? Or maybe some unknown sword specialist?”. Kenta decided not to ask further.

As they left the forest area they arrived to Mirani - a small village on the forest’s borders. According to the legends any wonder could happen inside the Miraculous Forest. Several years ago even a shrine for the unknown god was discovered inside. Information about that god was not found in neither history nor religious literature. Some people claimed that the forest were able to heal deadly wounds, terminal diseases and even bring back to life. So a lot of pilgrims started to arrive here in hope for a miracle and blessings from the god. After some time this small town was founded.

The town of Mirani was built in a form of circle, with a marble fountain located in the center of it. The fountain had a round marble platform in the center with a cross on it. The sole square of the Mirani town was made from the stone blocks. The Mirani had a tavern, a temple, a small hotel and several houses, occupied by people who decided to anchor there and live beside the forest.

*noise**noise*

As Kenta and Shun entered the city, they saw a lot of people standing on the main street and looking at the gates in the other end of the city, as waiting for something.

Kenta forced his way to the front line of the crowd and asked the nearest person, what were the people waiting.

-          A Sword Saint and a princess! They’re arriving soon!

-          Eeeek! S...sword saint??? And...princess??!!

Kenta was unable to keep his cool. For Kenta becoming the Sword Saint was like a dream.

When the person was born, he had a fixed amount of the magical energy called mana. Its amount could not be increased through the training or aging. Temporary increase of mana was only possible by drinking special elixirs and as only the nobles could afford it, most of the people had to live with their amounts of mana the whole life.  

If the amount of mana was high, person could become a magician. Only 2 of 10 children could become magicians and  most of the children could only become warriors if they decided to join the military.

And Kenta was not in that 2 people. But he did not regret it - after all, the peak of power in the kingdom was occupied by 12 warriors - the Sword Saints! For Kenta, those Sword Saints were a pinnacle of power and he dreamed to become one of them one day.

“As the princess is coming too, there is no doubt she is escorted by 12th Sword Saint”, it was clear to Kenta.

The 12th Sword Saint, Leyten De’Leroe was 19 years old guy and he was the youngest sword saint in the whole kingdom’s history. He was a descendant of hero - several generations before, his ancestor, Rubio De’Leroe, stopped the assault of the whole Western Empire's army alone,  and defended the kingdom, thus becoming a national hero and the first Sword Saint. His sword, shield and armor were national treasures of the kingdom.

Princess, Elizabeth Silvier, the daughter of the current king Makkonell Silvier, was known as a “descended goddess”. She was only 16 years old. With a kind and pure heart, Elizabeth communicated with commoners as equals. She created several decrees that made life easier for common people and rearranged taxes, so countrymen could save more for themselves, without affecting the kingdom’s economy. She often talked to people on the streets, asking for their problems, and helped them. Some people even called her a “saint”. Elizabeth also was very beautiful and a lot of boys her age and even older man fell in love with her.

But she also was a powerful magician. Despite her your young age she had already became a high level magician, a feat usually not achieved even by 40 - 50 years old intermediate level magicians, and she had high chances to become a supreme level in her twenties due to huge efforts in her studying the magic and enormous amount of mana - almost a thousand times bigger than an average person had. Her teacher was the grand royal magician, Obadiah.

Elizabeth was already engaged with Leyten. It was a god blessed union - the descendant of hero, with the exceptional talent to swords and the “magical princess”, with the exceptional amount of magical powers, second to none in the kingdom.

Both of them were seen as the figures, who would increase the influence and prosperity of the kingdom in the future, overshadowing even Elizabeth's father achievements. And their child could even become both a supreme magician and a swordsman as Warrior God himself, who was considered the god-defender of the Maderian continent by both the Western Empire and the kingdom of Balux.

Kenta glanced at Shun, but Shun looked uninterested. “Well, for somebody with his powers, becoming the Sword Saint is a given”. Though Kenta knew that Shun was strong however he thought the Sword Saint stronger in the end.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

So he decided to ask about the princess.

-          Are you not interested in princess?

-          Not really. I never met her personally but according to people's talks she’s nothing special.

-          Hey! You’re being rude! You’ll change your opinion for sure if you see her!

Kenta poked Shun. “Every person is talking about her greatness and yet he claimed she’s nothing special.” muttered Kenta. “By the way...Why did they decide to come here?”

-          They are here! They are here!

Exclaimed somebody. The whole crowd started to move closer as the horse clattering became louder.

*clatter*

And carriage was approaching. It was the beautifully decorated carriage, shining as sun, sparkling with golden and white colors, pulling by the 4 white horses. The carriage was guarded by twelve knights, wearing white armor with golden patterns. “Elites…”, thought Kenta. Aside from the Sword Saints, the king had elite troops. Every solder in this elite forses was able to defeat 20 -30  ordinary soldiers alone. They also had some knowledge in magic.

As the carriage stopped, one of horsemen, got off and went to open the door of the carriage.

The first one to come out was the Sword Saint, Leyten. He was wearing a golden armor with white patterns, which formed the hawk wings and had a white sword on the right. Leyten’s hair was blonde and he had a beautiful face. Overall he was handsome. Girls would fell in love with him for sure.

By his looks nobody could tell at first glance that he’s the swordsman. But the aura, he was emitting, was definitely the aura of a pure hero. It was giving a warm feeling as the sun was near. Kenta looked at Shun, who was observing the Miraculous forest. “Shun has no aura at all. No, there is seems to be a significant power difference between him and the Sword Saint, no matter how powerful Shun is”.

In Kenta’s understanding, the strong person would be definitely recognized. Even those soldiers in the forest were not able to tell that Shun was strong.

After coming out, Leyten stretched his hand to help the princess leave the carriage. And when finally the princess came out, the whole crowd were immediately charmed.

Her beautiful long black hair, her pure green eyes, her small beautiful lips, her gestures and attire - white dress with golden patterns, was giving a feeling of a beauty, surpassing even the human realm. No doubt she was worth the title of “descended princess” and the “saint”.

She was giving a warm feeling as the calm warm breeze were blowing on. It was releasing you from any hostility and bad thoughts. People started to cry and smile unintentionally. Also her aura made people desire to swear the loyalty to her.

The crowd started to cry out the names of the sword saint and the princess. Kenta was cheering while smiling, not even understanding it yet. “How I’d like her to give me at least a glance”. As reading his thoughts, the princess looked towards his and Shun’s location, and for a moment her eyes opened wide. Kenta was so happy that he almost fainted, but Shun helped him not to fall.  

-          Thank you.

Said Kenta. Shun shrugged and then tell:

-          I still do not get why people so happy. But she’s a strong magician. I give her that.

-          How could you say that!! Don’t you feel the warmness, which fill your heart with a joy when she is looking at you. Look at that people - they are crying out of happiness just by looking at her. She’s descended goddess, no doubt.

Shun shooked his head.

-          And her fiance - this Sword Saint - I doubt you are stronger than him. Just look at his aura - he gives a feeling of person, who could protect you from anything, defeat any army. I even think that his sword skills are far superior to yours.

Shun shrugged again.

Meanwhile the princess, with a help of her fiance, left the carriage and moved towards the entrance of the Miraculous forest. They arrived in order to visit miraculous forest’s shrine. As their wedding approaching, before making the final preparations, they decided to visit and ask for the blessing from the god of this forest.

“I am sure, the god will give them his blessing”, said Kenta.

As they entered the forest, the people started to dissipate. Kenta looked once at the direction where the princess went and then he and Shun entered the tavern.

As the doors of the tavern were bivalved, Shun threw them open with force of his hands in order to make a powerful entrance.

*bang*

“Damn clown”, thought Kenta.

People at the tavern looked for a moment at Shun and Kenta and then continued discussing the arrival of princess.

-          Did you see her? I felt like I became young again...

-          If I were only 40 years younger….

-          You’d still do have any chances…

-          Imagine how beautiful their child will be…

-          The best of both worlds - magic and swords. Blessed union! Let’s have drink for their happiness...

As the people were celebrating, Kenta and Shun chose a table and a waiter asked for their orders. Kenta ordered a full meal set and Shun ordered only a glass of water.

-          Why don’t you eat?

-          I don’t need food.

-          Wha...

Shun started to explain.

-          The food and water...At the certain level of understanding the nature’s flow, you won’t need them anymore...You won't need to eat and sleep anymore. You can restore your energy directly from the nature.

-          I see...Then why did you order a glass of water?

-          I had to order something after all...

Said Shun nonchalantly.

“Well…”, Kenta recalled a story about the sages who could live without food for months. “It seems his teacher was some kind of a sword sage who taught him those movements and secret techniques. It would be convenient to learn them one day.”

In the past it was popular to go to the mountains and train your swordsmanship. According to the old rumours, some masters achieved the inhuman level of understanding the sword and the nature.

Today you could do training much easier as there were many training grounds in the towns and even the Annual Sword Saint Tournament, founded by Rubio De’Leroe, where swordsmen could test their skills and even have a spar with one of the Sword Saints.

If a contestant was able to leave a scratch on Sword Saint’s armor or broke his defence, he would become the Sword Saint’s apprentice or even acquire a title of the Sword Saint himself.

“If Shun participated in this tournament, he would definitely become the sword saint or at least an apprentice”, Kenta was sure about, “By the way...”.

Kenta remembered that the tournament took place in Serpentia, so he decided to ask.

-          Why are you going to Serpentia?

Shun scratched his head and then spread his arms.

-          Because I am planning to participate in the Sword Saint Tournament!

“And he’s 5 years older than me”, thought Kenta. Kenta asked about Shun’s age earlier and he gave some vague answer. “Something like 20 I presume..”,

-          And already almost at Sword Saint level.

Murmured Kenta. As Kenta started to dream about the possible battle between the Sword Saint and Shun, he continued to eat his meal.

Suddenly he realized.

-          I have no money!