I Returned with the Cheat Holy Sword

“You look amazing, my lady!”

The shop Carlyle had recommended—though Gray hated to admit it—was filled to the brim with items that perfectly matched her personal tastes.
‘Hmph. I guess he’s useful after all.’
As she examined a frilly, flowing dress with delicate lace, that thought crossed Gray’s mind.

It wasn’t even a well-known boutique. How had he managed to find a place like this so precisely?
…That it had been the Holy Sword who gave him the intel was a secret Carlyle kept to himself.
“You’re beautiful, my lady! Absolutely adorable!”

“…Really?”
Gray squirmed slightly as she asked the question, and the clerk’s face lit up even more.
She didn’t seem like the insecure type, but… it was also clear that she hadn’t heard this kind of # Nоvеlight # compliment very often.

She was definitely the kind of noble girl who had no resistance to sweet, girlish words.
‘Bingo. Got her.’
These types of noble ladies—once they get hooked—will clear out the entire store.

“Of course! I don’t know how we were lucky enough to have you visit today, my lady, but everything here looks like it was made for you!”
The tone was cliché, sure—but the words themselves were sincere.
Her looks alone were practically a cheat code.

It didn’t matter what she wore—it would suit her effortlessly…
“…Am I cute?”
“Absolutely, my lady!”

“…Pretty?”
“Without a doubt!”
“…Hm, hm.”
Whatever Gray said, the clerk kept circling around her with enthusiastic affirmations.

She gave off the vibe of an older neighborhood sister—familiar, comforting.
Normally, Gray would’ve roared at someone for daring to speak so casually to a Hero, but right now, she felt like letting it slide.
Gray gave a little cough, nodded with satisfaction, and picked up one of the dresses.

A smile she couldn’t quite hide spread faintly across her lips.
“Then… I’ll try it on.”
With that, she took off her outer coat.

Exposing the back of her neck.
And the scar left there.
A cross—split cleanly in both directions.

Running a boutique in Capital Kagenov meant you had to be familiar with all kinds of etiquette and insider knowledge about nobles.
So—
The moment the clerk saw the scar on Gray’s neck, her face turned deathly pale.

A Holy Mark.
The sign of the one chosen by the Holy Sword—the rightful owner.
Practically the Hero’s identification badge.

“...Hhk…!”
A sharp gasp of fear escaped her.
Even in a store used to dealing with nobles, it was natural to be terrified when facing the so-called Protector of Humanity.

In some ways, she was as dangerous as a member of the imperial family itself.
“I—I’m so sorry! I didn’t recognize you, Hero…!”
“……”

And at that moment—
Gray’s face lost all expression.
‘…Ah. Of course.’

She let out a bitter smile and brushed back her hair.
For a second, she’d forgotten.
This was how it was supposed to be.

She was undeniably someone meant to live a life different from others. A person who could never truly blend in.
‘Normalcy’—
The small, trivial things that other people took for granted…

Were nothing but fragile decorations, easily crushed by the overwhelming weight of who she was.
“……”
Gray looked down at the floor and sighed.

Then, when she raised her head again—
Her usual arrogance had returned, etched clearly into her face.
“Don’t make a scene. I’m just here to shop.”

“Y-yes, of course…!”
“I’ll browse alone. Go hide somewhere.”
The clerk practically vanished in relief, scurrying away at her command.

Which only annoyed Gray even more.
That reaction—
Reminded her of that guy.

—No matter what happens, I’ll always have your best interests at heart.
—If you don’t like me, you can throw me away. Just try bringing me along once.
Even after she’d almost killed him, he’d grinned as he said that.
That guy, who dared act like her equal.

Who had nothing, and still had the nerve to be so annoying.
And yet…
Now, that attitude almost seemed better.

‘…Where is that bastard.’
She was pissed.
She decided she’d blow off some steam on him.

Closing her eyes, Gray rotated the mana inside her body.
There were countless people on the continent who could use mana—but only a few were born with special qualities.
Like the Sun God of the Sand Kingdom, whose followers had high affinity with flame spells—or the Apostles of the Orthodox Church, who manipulated the transformed mana known as “Divinity”...

And among them, the Hero’s mana stood alone in a class of its own.
It didn’t possess any unique interactions with the world around it—but through raw, overwhelming specs alone, it crushed everything else.
They called it—

Omnipotence.
The strongest. The sharpest. The most precise.
If she shaped it into a weapon, it could pierce any defense spell. If she concentrated it defensively, no weapon could break through.

On top of that, the total amount of mana she had was so absurd that calling her a “human power plant” wouldn’t even come close.
And so—
A person like her could do something like this: spreading her mana over the entire area and scanning it—detecting everything nearby and converting it into usable information.

A feat that would make even Archmages from the Tower of Magic scream in horror from the sheer calculations involved—
Was something a Hero, whose mana functioned almost like a body part, could perform with ease.
All the data composing the world flowed neatly into her mind.

And yet—
“…?”
She couldn’t find his presence.

Not at all. Not even a trace.
As if—
He, and he alone, had somehow resisted her mana across this entire area.

An untrained nobody.
Resisting the power of humanity’s strongest.
“…What the hell?”

Gray muttered, her voice full of genuine confusion.
***
Even if he could only acquire one of the Hero’s abilities, the first one to pick was already obvious.

[System Message]
◆ “Mana: Omnipotence” has been added to the Holy Sword’s function.
[Skill Info]

◆ Mana: Omnipotence
A unique mana possessed only by the Hero. Has the highest output of all.
The skill that formed the foundation of everything she could do.
If compared to a human being, this was the heart.

“Seriously.”
Reading the simple description in the skill window, Carlyle gave a dry smile.
It was absurdly concise—but it didn’t need to say more.

It’s the strongest.
That alone made further explanation unnecessary.
And as far as Carlyle could tell, the power already surging within the Holy Sword was proof enough of that.

[Not bad at all.]
The Hero’s voice from within the sword rang out, sounding satisfied.
[Feels like a familiar fuel source.]

“But Hero,” Carlyle asked, “You’re a person sealed inside a sword—how far can you actually act?”
Carlyle already knew just how monstrous she’d been before she got sealed, but still… now that she was in this form, her actual capabilities were a mystery.
Surely she was weakened compared to the original.

[Does it look that way to you?]
“…No?”
The confidence in her voice basically denied the entire premise.

[I am weakened. Obviously. I don’t even have a physical body I can move.]
Flesh is the vessel that holds the soul. And with just her spirit sealed inside the sword, she naturally couldn’t act as she once had.
[Still—]

Even so.
[There is no one alive who can oppose me.]
She—

Was still the Strongest Human Alive.
And what followed proved that beyond all doubt.
Time itself seemed to slow.

Not literally, but because the mana flowing from the Holy Sword had drastically enhanced Carlyle’s physical capabilities.
His very perception of the world was changing. The sense of omnipotence overflowing in his body was almost laughable.
So this is the kind of world she always lives in.

“No wonder she turned into such an asshole.”
Human minds are more influenced by things than people think.
With this much power, it’s only natural you’d start to see others as small.

This was irrational power—enough to twist a human’s psyche all by itself.
[Now.]
And now, the person about to take a punch from Carlyle was likely realizing the same thing.

At the timing guided by the Holy Sword, he threw a blow into the chest of a figure rounding a back alley.
It was just a light tap—nothing more than a casual punch.
But with a metallic crunch, the armor warped and the figure collapsed to the ground.

‘…Did I just kill them?’
The person crumpled like they’d passed out cold, and Carlyle briefly panicked.
But the Hero answered in an annoyed tone, as if he were being ridiculous.

[I adjusted the strength, obviously.]
“…It hurts, dammit—!”
“……”

The groaning from inside the helmet proved she wasn’t lying.
What a weird way of speaking.
And—

‘A woman?’
Judging by the voice, the person was female.
And sounded quite young.

Tilting his head, Carlyle spoke.
“…Are you from the Orthodox Church?”
The emblem on her armor was unmistakable.

“Why are you tailing the Hero?”
“I don’t owe answers to people who punch strangers on sight, sir.”
“If anything, doesn’t getting knocked down entitle me to an explanation?”

“…I am opposed to violence.”
As Carlyle raised his fist again, the armored woman flinched and averted her eyes.
It must’ve been a memorable punch…

“In the first place, I’m only following the Hero around because of you, sir.”
“…Excuse me?”
“The Hero is the strongest asset of humanity, so her every move must be monitored with great caution. We can’t have suspicious people clinging to her, can we?”

“……”
Hmm.
The logic… sort of made sense.

“…Wouldn’t the first person to break anyone suspicious be the Hero herself?”
Unless the person being watched wasn’t a monster who could wipe the floor with anyone.
At that, the woman on the ground looked away again.

No doubt she was sweating buckets inside that helmet.
“…Want to get hit again?”
“N-no, sir! I don’t want to monitor the Hero! I actually adore her! Deeply! I have zero desire to intrude on her private life!”

She frantically waved her hands as she pleaded.
“But what am I supposed to do when the higher-ups order it?!”
“And I’m asking why they’d give such orders.”

“…Because if the one who received the Holy Sword causes an incident, the Church’s reputation goes down the drain. Some people are worried about that.”
“……”
“The Hero… well, even saying it politely, she’s not exactly the gentlest person in the world, is she.”

…Ah.
Carlyle gave a dry laugh and ran a hand through his hair.
That made sense—and it also confirmed a suspicion.

‘So there are people inside the Orthodox Church who hate Gray.’
Giving her the Holy Sword and then assigning surveillance? There was no other explanation.
Attaching a watchdog just because she went out on a stroll—no matter how much of a “troublemaker” she was—was too cruel. Especially to a girl who hadn’t even had her coming-of-age yet.

[…That did happen, didn’t it. I remember now.]
The Holy Sword added its own comment.
‘You had enemies in the Church?’

[No. But sometimes… just existing is enough to create them.]
That made sense.
Jealousy, envy, suspicion.

All those things breed excessive restraint.
‘…Sounds like you had a rough time growing up.’
[Spare me the pity.]

After exchanging those thoughts with the Holy Sword, Carlyle sighed and opened his mouth.
“The lady is simply out shopping. There’s nothing here for you to worry about.”
He spoke in a flat, matter-of-fact tone.

“Let her do some shopping. What’s with the fuss?”
“U-uh…”
“Set aside all the sordid adult politics for a moment.”

He scratched his cheek and added:
“Let the Hero live a normal life for once.”
“…Huh?”

The woman blinked in confusion, but Carlyle just shrugged.
“You’re a person too, aren’t you?”
She was still human, at her core.

At least, from what he could tell.
Even if she was twisted in countless ways, she still had emotions—still wanted things like anyone else.
And that was why he’d been able to reach her, even slightly.

“Everyone has the right to pursue happiness. Even if they bear the burden of saving humanity. Let’s not take that away too.”
“……”
“And also…”

Carlyle gave a crooked grin.
“She’s already got a pretty shitty personality. If we don’t let her do what she wants, it might explode twice as hard later—”
“—That’s an interesting take, you’ve got there.”

“….”
Oh no.
That was a voice he definitely wasn’t supposed to hear right now.

Shit.
Cold sweat trickled down Carlyle’s back as he slowly turned around.
Gray was standing there, arms crossed, looking directly at him.

He had no idea when she’d even arrived.
“…Miss. That comment was… layered, with a lot of contextual—”
“If you don’t want to wear that shitty personality, shut your mouth.”

“Yes ma’am.”
Flattened in one blow, Carlyle stayed silent as Gray looked from the woman on the floor back to him.
“‘Has the right to be happy,’ huh.”

She muttered it like it was amusing.
“Of all people—me, huh.”
She glanced him over again.

Still a man with nothing.
On the surface.
Then she smirked.

“I’m tired. I’m going back. Prepare the carriage.”
“….”
Carlyle blinked.

Wait, what?
Why wasn’t she angry?
He’d braced himself for at least a broken rib.

“Did you not hear me? I said we’re leaving.”
“…Yes ma’am.”
Whatever the reason, he was grateful the Hero’s temper hadn’t gone off in the worst direction today.

***
[System Message]
The Hero’s curiosity toward you has been amplified in a positive direction.

Trait “Hero’s Companion” has activated.
A Positive Affinity Trait has been added!
[ ★ Trust 0% → 5% ]

Reward granted!
Open Trait Tab to view details!