Alchester slowly drew his sword. His stance hadn’t changed much, but Eugene felt a completely different sense of presence coming from Alchester. Right now, in Eugene’s eyes, Alchester’s fighting spirit didn’t seem to have been aroused, but the usual sense of foppishness couldn’t be felt at all.

Instead, there was an extreme sharpness. Even in his previous life, it was rare for Eugene to have seen someone whose entire sense of presence resonated so closely with their sword.

‘...If it’s in terms of sharpness alone, then he’s even better than Gilead,’ Eugene judged.

In terms of swords, such changes in presence should only correspond to a swordman’s inner nature. That was why Alchester’s sharpness came as even more of a surprise.

“...The Great Vermouth was able to wield such a wide range of weapons and magic that he was even called the Master-of-All, but Orix Dragonic only ever used a single sword.” As he stared down at his drawn sword, Alchester continued, “In the following three hundred years, the Dragonic family has continued to develop the swordsmanship left by our founding ancestor. …Even though I am a distant descendant, I’m fully aware of the serious hardships my ancestors were forced to bear while doing so.”

“What hardships are you talking about?” Eugene asked curiously.

“Sir Orix Dragonic had the strength of a half-human-half-dragon, but his strength wasn’t passed on to the future generations,” Alchester said regretfully as he shook his head with a bitter smile. “It’s said that Sir Orix could emit a sword-force as tall as a mountain peak and as wide as a castle wall, but it was impossible for the later generations to do the same. My ancestors and even I didn’t have a huge reserve of mana like Sir Orix did, nor did we share the same aptitude with mana that all half-human-half-dragons have.”

That was only natural. After all, Orix wasn’t a real half-human-half-dragon, and he had gained his strength by consuming a Dragonheart all by himself. Eugene had also once shared a Dragonheart with his companions in his previous life, so he was well aware of how much mana was contained in a single Dragonheart.

“...However, my ancestors didn’t give up,” Alchester declared proudly as he extended his sword.

Fwoosh!

The blue light of his sword-force wrapped around the blade. There wasn’t anything special up to that point, but the change that occurred after this caused even Eugene to feel surprised.

The sword-force had suddenly swollen significantly.

After examining...