I Returned with the Cheat Holy Sword

[I figured they'd show themselves around this time.]
The voice of the Holy Sword flowed out calmly.

Well, she had been the one to warn him they’d be running into demon worshippers.
“…What are they after? They’re not the type to jump out just to disrupt a class.”
[The mock battle facility is located a bit away from the academy's center, isn’t it? A perfect place for tricks.]

“What kind of tricks? Are they targeting the royal?”
[No. They’re after me.]
“…What?”

[They want to know how far the current generation’s Hero—who holds the Holy Sword—can fight. What her weaknesses are. Things like that. I’d wager they’ve set up a few things deeper in that cave.]
…Ah.
So it wasn’t about the royal family—just the fact that the Hero was isolated.

“Then why are you only telling me something so dangerous now?”
[It’s not dangerous.]
“Excuse me?”

[If it were dangerous, don’t you think I would’ve told you to stop it? I wouldn’t have kept quiet until now.]
“……”
[The academy’s headmaster, Sior, likely noticed the suspicious movements a while ago. The Gray Cardinal being here is probably because he was informed.]

“So you’re saying there are safety measures in place?”
[Of course. And I’d bet even the demon worshippers themselves didn’t expect to get away with it.]
In other words:

Everyone—Sior, Felix, and even the demon worshippers themselves—knows something is going to happen here.
“……”
Why is it all so damn complicated?
[It’s a fight against those hiding in the shadows. No wonder it’s messy.]

“Then the reason the Gray Cardinal came personally is…”
[To see how well I handle unexpected situations.]
“……”

Now that did make sense.
The Hero isn’t perfect from the beginning, you know.
…So Headmaster Sior really did know something. He must’ve seen this coming from the start.

“Then, what should I be doing here?”
[You still have that authority item, don’t you?]
“…? Yeah, I do.”

It was something he received a while ago as a quest reward.
An item that allowed him to ‘force’ a specific action onto Gray.
Though the effective range is kind of narrow.

When he tried to use it to correct some of her behavior, any command that caused too much emotional turmoil simply wouldn’t go through.
Well, he always figured there’d come a time when it would be useful.
[Now’s the time to use it. Make sure I act properly.]

“What kind of action are we talking about?”
[…I didn’t fight very well here.]
Carlyle narrowed his eyes and glared at the Holy Sword.

Didn’t fight well, huh.
Gray, not fighting well?
“Don’t bullshit me.”

[…This is why I didn’t want to tell you.]
The Holy Sword grumbled as she continued.
[It’s not fear. It’s not that I panicked from the brutality.]

Both of those were things the current Hero was extremely used to.
But—
[…My weakness was struck.]

“What kind of weakness?”
[A psychological one.]
“…You have one of those? I went through all those regressions with you and never saw it once.”

[Because I never said a word about it. Not even to you.]
“……”
So even {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Carlyle, who had lived through countless regressions and believed he knew Gray inside and out, had no clue.

That was how certain she sounded.
[At some point, I buried it. I erased it from my mind completely.]
Her tone shifted, just slightly.

[…I think I believed that having a weakness made me weaker.]
There was a hint of bitterness in her voice.
***

“…What the hell’s taking that guy so long?”
Inside the cave, Gray muttered with visible irritation.
He’d told her to go on ahead, so she’d led the princess through the mock battle zone—but no matter how long she waited, Carlyle didn’t show.

Beside her, Illia nervously peeked up.
“Um…”
“What?”

Gray’s sharp tone made Illia flinch instinctively.
Even if she was powerless, she was still royalty. She probably hadn’t met many people this unabashedly rude before.
“Um… when will that person… be coming back?”

“……”
Gray shot her a sour look.
Yes, she knew the girl was only seven years old. Still—

“Why do you ask?”
The fact that that guy was gaining favor with someone else rubbed her the wrong way.
“Ah—n-no, um…”

Faced with Gray’s scowl, the little girl immediately shrank like a balloon losing air.
“Lady Chasefield, isn’t that a bit much to say to a royal?”
So much so that Felix, who had been silently following them until now, finally spoke up to defend Illia.

“As the one who received the Holy Sword, you have a duty to protect distinguished guests and important figures. Wouldn’t it be better to avoid such harsh behavior?”
“……”
He wasn’t wrong.

Whoever receives the Holy Sword assumes the duty of protection.
And knowing Gray’s personality, she clearly wouldn’t have volunteered for this job. That’s why she was here—because she had to be.
No matter what she wanted, if someone requested her, she’d have to show up and protect them.

“…But don’t you think it’s weird that I only have to protect VIPs?”
She was a Hero meant to protect humanity—yet only a tiny handful of elites had the right to summon her.
Gray’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

“Well, is that really a problem?”
Felix’s reply cut right across her words without a hitch.
“If I recall, you accepted the Holy Sword willingly. Didn’t you already know how irrational the Hero’s position was?”

“……”
“Regardless of how you feel—”
Felix’s gaze shifted toward their surroundings.

“As long as you fulfill your role, I don’t really care.”
As he said that, a sacred barrier of light unfurled around the princess.
Gray didn’t even need to ask why.

“…Hmph.”
With a scoff through her nose, she drew the Holy Sword.
She could sense them—unusual presences, slowly encroaching. As if they’d been waiting for her group to enter the area.

Simultaneously, all around, presences sprang up from seemingly nothing.
She could immediately tell.
This wasn’t human.

These were monsters.
From the darkness, they stepped out—creeping, twisted forms.
“…W-who are those people…?”

Illia asked innocently, blinking.
Felix gently placed a hand over her eyes, his voice as kind as ever.
“Cardinal Felix?”

“Your Highness, would you mind counting to 100 in your head for a moment?”
Then he covered her ears, too.
A necessary move.

There was no doubt the scene to come would be far too violent for a child.
“……”
The humanoid figures stepped into the light—limbs bent at impossible angles.

Then, with a grotesque rip, their entire skin split apart, revealing blades erupting from within.
“----!”
A beast’s howl burst from their mouths—something no human should ever produce.

Ghouls. Among the worst types of monsters.
They were made by modifying human corpses.
Anyone caught doing this under Imperial law would be executed on the spot. It was a crime that could only be committed by demon worshippers.

“Everything must go—final clearance sale—!”
“Accept my love—!”
“This time, I’ll win—!”

Nonsensical phrases spilled from the ghouls' mouths, utterly devoid of meaning.
With a sigh, Gray raised the Holy Sword.
Starsteel—the most effective weapon against anything demonic. The perfect counter to a twisted abomination built from human remains.

What followed wasn’t a battle so much as a massacre.
The way Gray swung her sword—if you looked too casually, you might not even recognize it as combat. It was like a farmer calmly harvesting wheat.
Ghouls, normally high-tier monsters when it came to difficulty, were being carved through like paper.

As expected.
No doubt about it—humanity’s strongest.
It had been worth coming in person just to see this.

Felix smiled faintly as he watched Gray fight.
“……”
But then, his smile vanished.

His eyes fixed on Gray.
The tip of her blade had stopped.
As if—she simply couldn’t bring herself to swing.

“My—daughter—”
Gray knew full well the words were meaningless.
Ghouls repeated fragments of phrases embedded in the brain of their former bodies. Random, disjointed, senseless.

And yet—
“I’ll—save—you—”
Why those words.

Why now.
“……”
The ghoul was female—and crying.

Her body grotesquely mutated, but somehow her face remained unchanged from her human days.
Watching that… watching something like that say those words—
Gray, my daughter. I’ll save you. I swear I will.

Gray’s sword halted, completely frozen.
“—Gray?”
“……”

“What are you doing?”
Even Felix’s voice couldn’t shake her free.
Her sword wouldn’t move.

Felix’s expression gradually faded into blankness.
Gray stood there, like a statue, unmoving.
The air grew cold.

And heavy.
More serious by the second—
“Hyah!”

—until a man suddenly burst in and cleaved the ghoul cleanly in two with a cheerful shout.
And shattered the tension completely.