The year 1322 Taichi Hayashi, a 24-year-old young man with 186cm height, black hair, fair skin, hazel eyes and a well-built posture, stood on the front terrace of the noble house where he served. Yamaguchi was the name of the noble clan that Taichi served. The Yamaguchi clan was one of the most powerful clans in northern Japan during the reign of the Kamakura Shogunate. They controlled trade, regulations, and society in the region. The Hayashi clan became one of the three guardian clans of Yamaguchi. They had sworn to submit and obey the orders of the Yamaguchi clan, the Hayashi, who belonged to the warrior clan, could not dispute the oath. "Lord Hayashi," said a servant, calling out to Taichi, who was none other than the leader of the warriors in the Yamaguchi residence. The young man dressed in ash-black hakama turned his head slowly with his hand behind his back. He looked at the servant who was standing with his head bowed. "What's wrong?" asked Taichi, cold and indifferent.

***The next day.Tobias was able to walk well after resting all day long yesterday. Tobias took this opportunity to go to the city center of Stratham. He went accompanied by a maid who he assigned to take him to a place.Not a library or a restaurant, but a blacksmith shop. The maid was initially confused, considering Tobias was not good at using physical weapons. However, she carried out the order without denying it.There was only one blacksmith still operating in the whole of Stratham City. He was the supplier of high-quality swords for the soldiers in the region of Atrea -the region that Archibald ruled.The name of the blacksmith shop was Jason Stone, named after the shop owner. Tobias looked at the signboard with the name of the blacksmith shop outside Stratham's business center."Is this the shop?" asked Tobias, raising his head."Yes. This shop supplies high-quality swords to Archibald's noble warriors," said the maid, stopping in her tracks and standing beside Tobias.Tobias

[Sacred Sword Skill: 24-Rib Piercing]Tobias pointed the tip of his sword blade forward, similar to a fencing technique, in contrast to Giselle, who was already doing her best to withstand Tobias' sword attack.The young man stabbed into Giselle's defensive wall, the first stab was at a slow speed, but it increased until the 24th stab. Tobias' fast hand movements overwhelmed Giselle to the point that she created more than two defence magic to stop Tobias' attacks."What the hell is this power you have, Tobias?" asked Giselle. She, who had been trained in magic, could be pushed into a corner like this just because of Tobias' sword skills.Tobias smiled. The two had practised several times, and Tobias had won almost all of them. It came to the last thrust of his Sacred Sword Skills, the 24th piercing.He drew his sword again and took a short stance. The blade tip was pointed forward, with Tobias' eyes squinting strongly. Giselle, behind her defensive magic wall, saw a white dragon figur

Giselle was the one who led Tobias to the frontier north of Atrea, where the black smoke continued to rise. The two rode on their own mounts through the country dirt roads to reach the location; Tobias hoped the smoke was not caused by the Valcke forces' attack."What are the chances of Valcke's forces attacking Atrea?" asked Tobias, speaking to Giselle."There's a chance they might attack, considering Equestria doesn't have a treaty of truce with them," Giselle replied.Hearing Giselle's explanation made Tobias sceptical. He was already grateful that the smoke was caused by the fire, but even so, Tobias was prepared for the worst.From a distance, Giselle had clearly seen the border between Equestria and Valcke. What she suspected was true, chaos was occurring on the northern border. Dozens of houses were burned down by fire magic attacks from Valcke territory, and not a few villagers were injured by the attacks.Tobias was shocked while still riding his horse. His right hand spontan

***The tiredness Tobias felt made him sleep so deeply that he didn't realise it was already eight o'clock at night. He opened his eyes and saw it was already dark outside the window. The room lights had already been turned on by the maid who entered Tobias' room.Sleeping for six hours made the young man's head feel so heavy; his body was even quite sweaty due to the room temperature. His eyes shifted to the wooden table with plates, bowls, glasses, and a kettle.Everything seemed to be neatly enclosed using a flat tool made of glass, except the kettle, which already had its own lid. Tobias sat on the edge of the bed with his right hand, trying to open each dish."They must have served it while I was asleep," Tobias said, seeing that his food and soup were already cold.Tobias tried to taste his food. It was good and savoury, but it only lacked a cold taste on his tongue. While enjoying his meal, Tobias' attention was distracted when he heard the sound of an explosion from outside Ar