Chapter 21: You’re Such a Villain!

“Ah! Demon-slaying, cut off…”

The girl stared blankly at the broken half of the sword that had fallen to the ground, her eyes suddenly losing their luster.

She felt powerless, completely collapsing onto the floor without any grace, her thighs pressed against the cold ground, sending waves of heartbreaking chill through her.

It wasn’t that Lan had a lack of fighting spirit; it was just that the enemy’s strength far exceeded her expectations, and the damage to her beloved sword reminded her of the warning recorded on the first page of that secret tome. Overwhelmed with despair, her defenses finally crumbled, and she felt utterly hopeless.

“Oh, looks like it’s all settled. Hey, this book of yours…”

Miss Vilyric strolled out of her bedroom, holding a thick book, about to say something when she saw that the tough and imposing girl from their evening meeting was now slumped on the ground with a blank stare, looking as if she had been utterly destroyed, with a broken long sword lying in front of her.

Her expression became quite strange.

Sneaking over to her expressionless pet, Priestess gently poked her in the side.

“Hey, hey, what’s the situation here? You didn’t do anything unspeakably weird to her, did you?”

Little Dragon Daughter tilted her head innocently.

“No, Master, I just scared this human as you instructed, making her lose her ability to resist, that’s all. I didn’t hurt her, and I don’t know why she suddenly turned like this…”

“Then why does she look like she just got bullied by a thug… wait, the sword is broken…? Hiss, I remember what it said in the table of contents…”

Opening the book in her hands, which had “True Secrets of the Famous Sword” written on the cover, Vilyric flipped to the very beginning with a peculiar expression.

“Ah, here it is—’To cultivate those who inherit my true teachings, if one wishes to reach the peak, one must use their blood as a guide and forge their named sword. The sword and its wielder must become one to realize the path. However, if the sword is destroyed, the wielder shall perish as well; this is the price of the path, and under no circumstances should your named sword be broken. Remember this, remember it well.'”

“…?”

After reading this overly familiar passage labeled “Outline,” Vilyric exchanged glances with Little Dragon Daughter, the former suppressing the urge to throw the book on the ground, her head now filled with black lines.

“Who wrote this nonsense?! Is this for real?!”

“Master, I feel like it’s saying something that could be true, could it be real?”

“Absolutely not! I’m telling you, I’m telling you what this book says is actually… this—oh my god, this…”

The usually well-mannered Priestess suddenly erupted with a torrent of elegant words. She seemed to want to explain something, but looking at the confused blonde girl, she didn’t know where to start.

In the end, as if utterly speechless, Vilyric simply came over to Miss Lan, who was still kneeling on the floor, completely oblivious to her surroundings, and flicked her smooth, pale forehead.

“Alright, enough wallowing! This stupid book is just messing with you, you fool.”

This flick wasn’t just a physical attack; it also contained a low-level Holy Light magic, “Awakening Resonance,” meant to rouse someone from unconsciousness, similar to setting off a loud firecracker next to someone sleeping.

“Wow!!!”

Lan, with her hair also black and shoulder-length—though notably shorter than the Priestess—jumped up.

“My demon-slaying blade! Ah! You guys…”

Before the equally black-haired but much taller girl could say anything in her furious state, Vilyric thrust the “True Secrets of the Famous Sword” right in front of her face and questioned loudly in an undeniable tone.

“Where did you get this book?”

“Why should I tell you? You criminal scum…”

“ANSWER MY QUESTION!!!”

“Ugh…”

Seemingly intimidated by the fierce aura of Miss Priestess, Lan let out a comical whimper.

Although the black-haired girl before her was notably shorter, resembling a childish little sister, for some reason, in that moment, Lan felt an undeniable sense of authority emanating from her, as if it was only natural to submit to the person in front of her.

This subtle feeling was something she had never experienced even from her own father, Tyler Tuls, the City Lord of Demon Town, or her grandfather, Griffiths Tuls, the Chancellor.

A strange ripple of emotions stirred in her heart, and inexplicably, Lan obediently revealed the truth as instructed by Vilyric.

…

“Three hundred years ago, the family acquired martial arts scriptures from a powerful figure at a high price?”

“That’s right… I heard that the figure was very mysterious, seemingly from a faraway place and possessed incredible powers beyond even those of transcendents. Our ancestors paid a great cost to obtain this work he wrote by hand… Wait! Why am I telling you this? Are you using some evil means to interfere with my mind? You vile criminal…”

“Shut up! I’m thinking here!!”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry…”

Having finally reacted, Miss Lan shouted angrily at Vilyric, but immediately withered, pitifully clutching her broken sword hilt as she shrank into a corner, not daring to say a word, looking just like a little girl bewildered after being bullied, no longer resembling the cold demeanor she had at their first meeting.

Little Dragon Daughter stood nearby with a face full of question marks, seeming not to understand why this human had suddenly become so obedient?

Meanwhile, Vilyric was lost in thought, resting her chin in her hand. She was indeed thinking about something completely unrelated to their original purpose.

The book “True Secrets of the Famous Sword” had a big problem.

First of all, it recorded abilities from “Illusionary World,” a basic warrior skill set from the daito school.

That powerful figure Lan mentioned from three hundred years ago was definitely—well, not definitely, but at least 99% likely—a player from the “Illusionary World” game.

In other words, a fellow traveler just like Vilyric.

Although she’d realized before that there might be traces left by players in this world through various clues, this book Vilyric accidentally discovered decisively confirmed that.

Of course, this book was different from the magic skill compendium she once lent to Liliya; while it indeed contained dozens of middle-to-low-tier sword skills, the main body was not from the “Illusionary World” system.

This was a damn novel, a hodgepodge of classic martial arts storylines from Blue Star, mixed with the twisted imagination of some unscrupulous player and their sword techniques—a complete mess that seemed to be written on a whim.

Not to mention, Vilyric had never heard of the concept of a “named sword” in the game. With so much equipment available in “Illusionary World,” did they really expect a low-level weapon to last all the way to the endgame?

Sure, there were indeed what one might call growth-type weapons, and some nostalgic players painstakingly refined their early purple and gold equipment to near-divine levels, but that was the exception, not the rule. Most normal people just used whatever they had and swapped out their gear for better items as they came along.

Just look at how they made this poor girl end up like this?!

   

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