TMKWPL CH 1

Chapter 1

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Lucia, The Black Monster

In the solemn corridor of the palace.

The heavy footsteps, not befitting of an ordinary woman, echoed relentlessly through the endless corridors.

Long, black hair and a black uniform.

Her name is Lucia, adorned in ornate epaulettes on her shoulders, speaks volumes about her history.

Lucia, the commander of the Black Knight and one of the imperial knights, had achieved countless accomplishments at the young age of not even twenty. But because her methods were so ingenious and cruel, all sorts of rumours of unknown origin always followed her, earning her the name, Black Monster.

Her unexpected appearance in the palace after five years had caused the servants who recognized her to duck their heads in fear of accidentally making eye contact.

As Lucia reached the end of the corridor, a magnificent door appeared, one that was clearly meant for the owner of the palace. The royal guards stationed there, despite having been forewarned, were so startled upon seeing her that their hearts seemed ready to burst through their armour. It was only natural, because despite her notoriety, Lucia had already completed training to become a Sword Master—a dream of all knights.

Before their eyes stood the fourth Sword Master on the continent. They could only look at Lucia with eyes full of awe. The guard, unable to wipe away the sweat streaking down his face, turned around and shouted loudly.

“Your Majesty, the emperor! The commander of the Black Knights has arrived!”

Then, as if waiting for this moment, the door opened and the emperor hurriedly stepped down from the throne, spreading his arms wide in welcome. It was an action that was not befitting of an emperor, considering that the empire had only been established recently.

“Oh, who could this be!”

“I see the sun of the empire. Your Majesty, the emperor. I am Lucia, commander of the Black Knights.”

Lucia graciously acknowledged the emperor's hospitality with a slight nod.

“Oh, how audacious. To omit your family name in a greeting to His Majesty...”

“Did you not know? I severed ties with the count's family as soon as I became an adult.”

“I see, but still. I can't believe you haven’t changed after all these years.......Tsk.”

Lucia's demeanour caused the nobles, who were waiting for the emperor’s approval, to frown and murmur.

But as always, the emperor paid no mind. Instead, he waved his hands to the nobles.

“Come now, save it for later. All of you, leave us.”

As if they had anticipated it, the nobles with dissatisfied expressions left one by one. And in the vast Great Hall, only the emperor and Lucia remained.

“You. It's been five years. You're 25 now, aren't you? Heh. You've become quite presentable as you've gotten older.”

The emperor said while touching his beard on the corners of his mouth, which had wrinkled up in his middle age. He feigned nonchalance, but his eyes couldn't hide his desire for her. Like a dog waiting for a treat, his eyes gleamed, and he breathed heavily with desire as he looked at Lucia.

If someone were to saw this scene, they might think the middle-aged man was about to do something improper to the beautiful woman, but Lucia knew the emperor’s true intentions and didn't even blink.

“You've aged more than five years ago, Your Majesty.”

It was her usual blunt response.

“Ahem... Is it because you've been alone? That mouth of yours hasn't grown at all. Heh heh...”

Though the emperor responded nonchalantly, his face grew quite grim as he moved his hand from stroking his beard to near his smile lines.

“But that's not important. Come on, tell me. Since you've achieved the results of your training, you must have sent a message.”

“Indeed. It's impressive that you've reached a realm unattainable at that age. But it's absurd for this empire to have no Sword Master.”

The emperor was once again overwhelmed with emotion, endlessly mumbled to himself.

The empire was exactly what the emperor said. Funnily enough, there was not a single sword master in the empire, except for the Commander-in-Chief, who was the greatest swordsman on the continent.

There were three Sword Masters on the continent, with one in each of the two allied countries that could rival the empire, and the empire's military strength would not be much different from that of other kingdoms after the commander-in-chief, who was the empire's pride, retired.

In such a desperate situation, the emperor’s choice was to secure the title of the youngest Sword Master in the continent.

As soon as the empire was established, he had excluded Lucia, who showed potential as a Sword Master, from missions and ordered her to undergo training for five years, and as a result,

“You have never disappointed me.”

Lucia, looking at the emperor who was excitedly breathing heavily toward her, quietly opened her mouth.

“Your Majesty.”

“Yes, yes. Ahem. I’m ready. Show me.”

What he meant was for her to display the red sword aura, the proof of a Sword Master.

The emperor wiped away his clumsy gesture and prepared to savour the fruits of his five years of hard work.

“I must request maternity leave.”

“Yes, yes. Of course. The youngest glory, maternity leave is...”

The emperor continued in a gentle tone, but at that moment, he looked as if he had been hit in the back of the head. His stunned eyes seemed to say the words not to fool around.

But Lucia in front of him just waited for the emperor to finish speaking with a nonchalant expression.

A suffocating silence fell over the vast hall.

And the Emperor stared blankly at Lucia, letting out a deflated laugh.

“Ahaha! You?! Is that what you're saying? That's impossible. That’s too much for a joke.”

There was a reason for the emperor's laughter.

No matter how much he thought about it, there was a complete flaw in her words.

An iron wall among iron walls. The most clueless of the clueless.

After the 16-year-old genius Lucia, who knew nothing but the sword, made her debut, all sorts of noble suitors lined up to woo the beautiful girl. But Lucia was a person who seemed to have the words love or romance erased from her mind, unable to understand their language at all.

It was the emperor who burst into a hearty laugh and shook his head as if recalling a series of events. Lucia remained as motionless as a doll without any emotions, not moving an inch at the sight of him seemingly dismissing her.

And soon, she held out her hand with five fingers spread in front of him.

“Ah, sorry. I'm sorry. That's right. Five years. Five years have passed. So, what about our Sword Master...”

Lucia shook her head, cutting off the emperor’s words.

“Five years old.”

“Five years old?”

The emperor mirrored her gesture, raising his hand.

“Yes. Five years old. I have a child.”

The emperor’s eyebrows shot up desperately. Soon, he shook his head.

“That couldn't be.”

Lucia nodded.

“It is”

“That’s not true, right?”

“It is.”

“No, it's not.”

“I'm telling you it’s true.”

“No, that can't be...”

In the fierce exchange of affirmation and denial, like spears and shields, what was left in an instant was the emperor who withered like a thousand-year-old mummy.

 • ───────── ☽༓☾ ───────── •

Clearly.

It was her last breath…

As she exhaled meaningfully through her pierced nostrils, a warm breath passed irritatingly over her lips.

“.......”

The next breath.

After hesitating several times and repeating the act of exhaling, she had no choice but to conclude.

‘I thought those memories were a panorama, but I didn't die after all.’

Lucia was a 92-year-old woman and the first and last Grand Sword Master on the continent.

She was once a swordswoman and an imperial knight whose abilities were so fearsome that she was known as the Black Monster of Eldarion.

Though she now lives alone in the mountains deep within the Empire for more than 40 years, she was a master swordswoman who fought countless wars and defeated first-rate demons with ease, rising to the position of Imperial Commander-in-Chief without a title.

In fact, she had been waiting for death for a long time.

Perhaps it was because of the loneliness she felt, having no interest in anything other than the sword, that it had made her life more exhausting than anyone else's. And then last night, the night she'd been waiting for.

Finally, sensing that her body elevating to a new realm, her body was being consumed by death along with memories flashing like a panorama.

Lucia accepted death without resistance and went into eternal sleep... But she didn’t.

Was it an illusion? Was it regrettably a failure?

Even for a special experience that could be her last. Morning inevitably came. Lucia eventually gave up everything, sighing deeply as she got up.

And without even glancing, she habitually reached out and grasped the hilt of her sword. Grabbing the sword as soon as she got out of bed was a habit she had never missed since becoming a knight. And the sword dance that began drew elegant lines, slicing through the stagnant air of the empty bedroom all morning, following the simple movements, and finally, like a grand finale,

Whiiiirrrr.

The sharp sword left her hand and swung at the high ceiling.

Thud

“?”

It was unbelievable.

Lucia looked up at the ceiling in surprise. The sword was stuck in the ceiling as if on purpose. Normally, the sword thrown up to the high ceiling would spin leisurely like a windmill and land on the sword rack.

‘Did I use too much strength?’

She had clearly been expecting death just moments ago, but she couldn’t hide her bitterness when her body, which she had controlled without a single mistake for decades, began to act as it pleased due to age. She tilted her head back in disbelief and stared blankly at the ceiling, then examined the area around the embedded sword, sensing something odd.

'...Strange. Was this drawn here?'

A mural on the ceiling that looked both familiar and unfamiliar. The sword was embedded deeply in the centre of the mural, in the hand of Asir, goddess and ruler of nature.

Tak. Tak. Tak.

A knock came outside of the elderly Lucia's bedroom.

“Commander, it's Berl. If you're ready, would you please come down?”

“......Berl?”

She found it strange that someone had come to this place where visitors were unlikely, but since the name wasn't unfamiliar, she first searched her memory. Then she remembered that it was the name of a comrade of hers from her youth. The Berl she knew was Berl Altoirut, the vice-commander of the Black Knights.

It was strange.

This mountain range was the only dangerous place in the empire inhabited by magical beasts, making it difficult for anyone below Sword Master level or equivalent mages to visit. So it made no sense for Berl, who hadn't even reached the rank of sword master, to come here on his own, except by the special route of a young maid who helped her.

Still having doubts, Lucia furrowed her brow and rolled her eyes in concentration.

Thanks to the unexpected visitor, she didn't notice that not only her stamina had changed from before, but also that there were no wrinkles on her furrowed brow.

Chapter List

Chapter 2