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I slowly followed Araya, surveying my surroundings.

The interior was a simple space, merely large, hardly befitting a king’s audience chamber.

I wasn’t expecting a space adorned with magnificent decorations or precious treasures like the Forbidden City where the emperor lived, but even a nouveau riche’s house in the Central Plains would have been decorated more lavishly than this.

It barely maintained its dignity thanks to the soldiers lined up on either side.

Soldiers with tense expressions, ready to draw their swords from their waists at any moment.

The soldiers who had escorted me earlier wore bronze breastplates and helmets, but most of the soldiers lined up in the audience chamber were simply wearing simple leather armor with swords at their waists.

The closer we got to King Prigos, the more properly armed the soldiers stationed near the king were.

Seeing that the level of armament was not uniform even among the soldiers guarding the king’s audience chamber, I remembered from Kyle and the merchants’ stories that Prigos had not been calling himself king for very long.

The Pohlen residence wasn’t bad, but it was too shabby to be the capital and royal palace of a nation.

Following Araya, I finally arrived at the throne where Prigos was sitting.

Araya bowed her head to me once, then walked up the steps and stood next to Prigos.

Behind King Prigos, the women I had seen last night stood in a line, appearing as ordinary humans without horns, wings, or tails.

I raised my bamboo hat with my index finger and looked up at King Prigos.

The throne of the King of Pohlen was as unremarkable as the space used as the audience chamber.

The height of the platform on which the throne was placed was only about three steps.

The throne also showed no signs of gold, silver, or jewels, but was simply a chair made of well-crafted stone.

Was he in his mid to late twenties?

King Prigos sat on the throne, looking down at me with eyes full of fatigue.

However, unlike his nervous face and tired eyes, he did not look weak.

Despite the large robe that heavily covered his body, I could feel the shape of his developed shoulders and body.

And the aura subtly embedded in his gestures and eyes.

It was the energy that those who were accustomed to killing possessed.

The overall impression was that he was more like a warlord leading vagrants or soldiers than the image of an emperor or king that Central Plains people generally imagined.

Considering this man’s actions, that might not be wrong.

“I heard from the aide. That you wish to speak with me as an envoy of the Elf race.”

King Prigos began to speak in a calm tone, unlike the ominous energy around him.

“That is correct, human king.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to look each other in the eye and face each other to speak honestly?”

“My apologies. The guest has committed a discourtesy in the host’s house. I am Araya, an Elf from the west.”

With that, I pushed back my bamboo hat, revealing my face.

The atmosphere of the soldiers who had been watching my every move with tension on either side softened for a moment, and exclamations arose.

King Prigos also widened his tired eyes in surprise, stroked the neatly trimmed beard on his chin, and looked at Araya, opening his mouth.

“I didn’t hear about this from the aide.”

“I didn’t think it was that important.”

“I suppose so.”

King Prigos finished his short exchange with Araya and looked at me, continuing the conversation.

“It’s sudden, and it’s also the first time I’ve welcomed an envoy from another race. I hope you’ll understand that there may be some shortcomings.”

“Don’t worry too much about it. It’s fine.”

Prigos looked around at the soldiers and said.

“Recently, there’s been a problem with the barrier protecting the city. As a result, the soldiers are having a hard time, so please understand that they’re a bit on edge.”

This atmosphere was a roundabout way of criticizing me for breaking the barrier.

I had nothing to say, so I replied with a nod.

As the soldiers watched me with tension, King Prigos didn’t want to push the issue further and make the atmosphere strange, so he changed the subject.

“You said you’re an Elf, not a human? Your ears are definitely longer than a human’s. Are all Elves like you?”

“I’m still not fully grown, so I’m short, but you can assume that they’re not much different.”

“Heh. A place full of handsome men and beautiful women who resemble you, it must be like paradise.”

At Prigos’ words, I thought about the forest where the Elves lived.

…Paradise?

A place full of forests and jungles, teeming with beasts and monsters that were a threat even to the Elves in the early days, as well as wild gods everywhere who only didn’t clash because they respected each other’s territories?

I scanned Prigos and the lined-up soldiers and thought.

‘…I wouldn’t last two weeks.’

Not only King Prigos, but also some of the soldiers had latent energy in various parts of their bodies, even if they hadn’t formed a dantian, but in the end, if they didn’t know how to properly handle energy, they were just slightly faster and stronger humans.

At this point, humans were too weak as creatures, and it seemed difficult for them to even live with Elves for a short time.

“You said you came from the west.”

“That’s right.”

“Humans live all over this land and interact with each other, large or small, but it’s hard to hear stories from the west because there’s so little interaction. Can you tell me how you came all the way here?”

At King Prigos’ request, I recalled the events of the past few months and slowly began to tell my story.

The story of how I left the forest because of the strange energy that was carried on the eastern wind.

The various flora and fauna I saw when I left the forest and traveled alone.

The giant brothers who were highway robbers.

The things that happened while helping the merchants with their trade.

In the first place, it was an era with no proper entertainment to speak of.

King Prigos listened to some stories with a serious face, as if contemplating something, and expressed curiosity about the units of measurement that came up when describing the giant brothers, and listened with a rare look of excitement when I told the story of subduing the giants and taking them as disciples or visiting the giants’ house.

The soldiers had also relaxed and began to listen to my stories.

By the time all the stories were over, the atmosphere in the audience chamber was much softer than it had been at the beginning.

King Prigos leaned back on his throne with a satisfied expression.

“Indeed, an interesting story.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“Hmm, I have a question, may I ask?”

“If it’s something I can answer.”

King Prigos stroked his chin as if contemplating, then opened his mouth as if he had made up his mind.

“You said you use a divine power called martial arts.”

“I think it’s a little different from divine power, but yes.”

“In fact, to our human eyes, you just look like a beautiful young girl with slightly long ears.”

I listened silently to what the king was saying.

“Our humans once extended our territory to the west. So we know that giants exist, and we know how dangerous they are. In fact, the stories we know are almost identical to the giants you described.”

“So I’m curious. What is this martial arts that allows a small girl like you to subdue giants?”

“When I go to find those who can use divine powers, they’re actually just deceiving ignorant people with plausible tricks.”

“I’m not doubting you, but if it’s not too much trouble, could you show me this divine power called martial arts?”

That’s a lie.

King Prigos must have already realized that my words were not false due to the destruction of the barrier and the clash yesterday.

I saw an undeniable desire in King Prigos’ eyes.

He was a human who would join hands with unknown beings like Araya in order to expand human territory.

Perhaps he was wondering if he could steal something from this new power.

He must have thought that it was a power that could be taught or passed on from the story of taking giants as disciples.

I pursed my lips, holding back a barely audible laugh.

‘If you could imitate martial arts just by looking at them, all the martial artists would be using only the highest level martial arts.’

Certainly, in martial arts novels written by imaginative writers, legendary talents such as the Heavenly Martial Body existed as fiction.

If there were someone who could do that, it wouldn’t be strange if the martial arts world, where each sect cherished its secrets as much as its life, was turned upside down several times.

Not only would there be the leakage of secrets, but being able to properly interpret martial arts also meant that you could break them.

‘If that were possible, it would be a martial god who was proficient in all martial arts, not just human ones.’

Isn’t that a distant realm even for me, who has encountered countless martial arts and now has a lifespan that I can’t even fathom?

“It’s not difficult to demonstrate.”

“Then would you allow our soldiers to witness this martial arts?”

I glanced at the soldiers who were tensing up again in the relaxed atmosphere and said.

“It’s not a difficult thing to do.”

“Then would about twenty soldiers be enough?”

“All of them are fine.”

At those words, King Prigos’ expression hardened, and the soldiers’ energy also became ominous.

“Hoo… hahaha… As expected of a hero who subdued giants and took them as disciples, your confidence is amazing.”

“……”

“Do you need anything?”

“I would like to receive a sword.”

King Prigos gestured to the armed soldier in front of him, and the soldier handed over the sword from his waist, scabbard and all.

Feeling the texture of the tanned leather that wrapped the sword, I drew it.

A golden sword with a reddish tint, made of bronze, not the iron swords I had seen in the Central Plains.

It was about 70 pate (70cm) long, so in proportion, it was similar to a greatsword for me.

“It suits you well.”

King Prigos said, perhaps finding it quite comical that a child was standing there with a sword half her height.

I ignored his words and turned around, slowly walking towards the center of the path leading to the audience chamber.

To the center of the soldiers lined up on either side.

At my calm appearance, the soldiers also slowly raised their hands to their hilts and began to sharpen their gazes.

‘Since this is the first time I’m officially demonstrating in front of humans, I want to show them something shocking.’

‘But since I’m only showing martial arts, I have to subdue them all without killing them.’

‘Subduing them one by one isn’t difficult, but it will take a long time, and the impact won’t be that great.’

‘Martial arts that can subdue multiple people at once.’

‘It would be good to use techniques like the Namgung’s Emperor Sword Formation or the Demonic Cult’s Demonic God’s Descent, which subdue an area and are close to sorcery, but…’

‘Those are areas created by enlightenment or a completed mental image rather than internal energy and knowledge, so it’s difficult for me to do them now…’

‘Then…’

The sword, half the size of my body, slowly began to hum.

The soldiers near me were filled with fear at the bizarre phenomenon of the sword beginning to cry.

This was an era when beings that could be considered supernatural existed as reality and roamed the earth.

The fear of the unknown seemed to resonate much more strongly with the soldiers.

The sword, which had been making strange noises, gradually increased its volume and began to shake in my hand.

Then, the trembling sword suddenly stopped.

As the crying sword stopped, some of the soldiers, feeling the limit of their patience, screamed and swung their swords at me.

At that moment.

Araya’s Grappling Compendium

Soul-Stealing Sword Cry (奪魂劍鳴)

The red bronze sword crumbled into powder, scattering like charcoal dust, and emitted sound waves in all directions.