I Returned with the Cheat Holy Sword

Carlyle let out a deep, internal sigh.
‘Is the Hero nearby right now?’
She’s following from a distance.

…No way.
He’d only asked because jealousy and such things had suddenly come to mind—turns out it was real.
It was odd to be jealous just because he was with another girl, but considering the target was Elena, who had openly picked a fight with her, it was… understandable.

It would feel like watching someone from your own side cozying up to the enemy.
‘…This is all for the greater good, though.’
With that thought, Carlyle looked down at the student sprawled before him.

The student he had just mercilessly beaten with the Holy Sword was lying on the ground, breathing heavily and fast.
‘Is it really okay to go around doing this kind of thing?’
No need for sympathy.

The Holy Sword replied dully.
These are agents planted in advance by demon worshippers. If we leave them alone, they’ll spread poison within the Academy while disguised as regular students.
What Carlyle was doing—beating them down without warning—was to prevent that from happening.

In fact, just as those words were spoken, a faint black mist slipped from the mouth of the student lying on the ground.
It was subtle enough that anyone who hadn’t been tipped off beforehand, like Carlyle had been, wouldn’t even have noticed.
This was a kind of “mark” that demon worshippers had branded onto the student without their knowledge.

A malicious method that forced unconscious “behaviors.”
These students had unknowingly been imprinted, and were being used without realizing it.
Carlyle’s beatdowns with the Holy Sword were a means of forcibly extracting that mark.
…It did make one wonder if this really had to be done through violence, but according to the Holy Sword, there was no other way.

To break apart these insidious backdoor schemes, it’s essential to erase their pieces from the bottom up. This is part of that process.
It wouldn’t bring immediate results, but—just as raindrops hollow out stone—cutting the roots was a crucial task.
‘But… how am I supposed to clean this up later?’

Skipping classes on the very first day to go around beating up other students—regardless of intention, this wasn’t going to look good.
He didn’t want to draw attention by making unnecessary trouble.
Ah, you don’t need to worry about that.

‘Excuse me?’
These guys all have skeletons in their closets if you look into their backgrounds. They didn’t catch the demon worshippers’ eyes for no reason. So you can just sell that as an excuse and lie.
‘…’

Saying they picked a fight with you is probably the safest bet, wouldn’t you say?
This thing was insane.
Carlyle was the one going around grabbing random people and beating them up without a word.

But it’s fast and effective for neutralizing the backdoor schemes, isn’t it?
‘…Hmph.’
After getting beaten this badly, they probably won’t even remember what happened. Just rewrite the narrative later.

‘…Hummm.’
It’s not like we’re doing something truly evil. Left alone, they’d be subject to summary execution under imperial law anyway.
Anyone found to be in cooperation with demon worshippers could be legally killed on sight. In that sense, this was almost a good deed…

Carlyle stroked his chin as he listened to the Holy Sword’s even, unbothered tone.
How should he put it?
It wasn’t wrong.

‘Guess we’ll just chalk this up as a net positive?’
A net positive, indeed.
He was stopping them from doing worse things they weren’t even aware of—so it was kind of like a plus-minus-zero situation.

“Um, why are you doing this…?”
There was one person who clearly didn’t agree.
Elena, standing beside him, had pupils trembling at an alarming rate.

From the perspective of a normal person, what Carlyle was doing was just too much to process.
Well, considering she had no idea what it meant to dispel a mark, it probably just looked like he was dragging strangers into an alley and beating the hell out of them.
“I’m doing this because it’s necessary.”

Carlyle said, sheathing the Holy Sword on his back.
Explaining about demon worshippers and all that would only backfire if she asked how he knew.
Better to be vague.

“But I swear on the Lady’s honor—I’m not hurting anyone for no reason.”
…He wasn’t sure if Gray even had anything like “honor,” but still—she was the Hero. Her name had some weight.
As soon as he said that, Elena’s eyes widened, then softened with a sly gleam.

God knows what she was thinking, but now she was sidling up to him with a smirk, poking his side repeatedly.
“Oh, is that what this is about? Why didn’t you say so earlier~”
“Excuse me?”

“This is like… asserting dominance, right? Like saying ‘don’t touch her, she’s mine’?”
“…”
How pink do your thoughts have to be to immediately jump to that conclusion?

“I mean, there are plenty of dumb guys who get all fired up just from looking at that monster. She’s gorgeous and she’s the Hero. I’ve heard the guys you beat up were especially fixated on her too.”
“…”
“So you’ve got feelings for her too, huh? That’s why you’re getting all possessive this early?”

“…There’s no such thing.”
System Message
▶ Target ‘Gray’ is displeased!
▶ Trait ‘Jealousy’ has increased in level!
“…Tch.”

Carlyle didn’t even need to look to imagine Gray’s expression twisting somewhere out there.
‘Seriously now.’
She clearly didn’t want any romantic entanglement between them either, yet whenever he denied it outright, she still got upset.

Well, rejecting someone yourself and being rejected *by* someone are two different things.
‘God, she’s insufferably picky.’
…Just leave it at that for now.

‘…?’
He had no idea what that was supposed to mean—but anyway.
‘Seems like there’s something I’ll need to keep an eye on.’

He couldn’t just ignore what Elena had said.
If all of the students who had been marked by demon worshippers were obsessed with the Hero, it was too much of a coincidence.
In my memory, they didn’t have this kind of trait. Something’s off.

If even Gray, who remembered every single puppet of the demon worshippers, was saying that—it had to mean something.
So then, the key point was—
‘There’s a difference.’

It was just a small deviation ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) right now.
But something had warped.
He didn’t know how it would come back around—but that only meant he had to respond even more thoroughly.

Strengthen what could be strengthened.
"Who's next on the list?"
As he asked, he pulled out the next description the Holy Sword had provided.

Apparently, this one was the last.
"Uh, that is…"
Elena immediately identified who the next person was and where they were.

…Quite competent.
Wide network, quick thinker, excellent memory.
Though she seemed absurdly timid for someone skilled enough in swordsmanship to earn the Hero’s recognition, that weirdly inspired trust that she wouldn’t cause trouble.

‘So you're telling me you blew this girl’s head off once.’
…It was a misjudgment.
Even to Carlyle’s prodding tone, the Holy Sword had nothing to say—just silently agreed. That said enough.

In any case, sparing her had been a good call. Maybe even lucky.
“…What?”
“…”

Scratch that.

“Do you need something from me?”
The boy spoke politely, but with a strangely mocking tone.
There was nothing particularly distinctive about his appearance, but the problem lay in the family crest on his uniform.

Carlyle’s gaze flicked over it.
‘House Grimbalz, huh…’
Not quite on par with the Grand Duchy of Chasefield, but still a respected martial noble house. And this guy was a member.

Leon Grimbalz… I remember him.
‘Anything beyond the name?’
Forgotten. Insignificant human.

‘…’
Just remember he was a puppet of the demon worshippers. I killed him as soon as I found out, then forgot about him.
‘…Oh. That’s… very you.’

Even if he’s from a prestigious house, he wouldn’t last a second against you. Didn’t you take down a Templar with one hit?
‘There’s a big problem, though.’
What?

‘I can’t fight anymore.’
……
Carlyle couldn’t see its face, but he could imagine the Holy Sword looking at him with the most pathetic expression.

Handling the Hero’s mana inside Carlyle’s mortal body had always been pushing the limits.
After beating several people in a row, trying to go another round was pushing it—his body was reaching its limit.
As he was thinking this, Leon Grimbalz walked right up to him.

There was a polite smile on his face, but his eyes carried an unmistakable scorn.
“—Ah, you. I remember you.”
His voice dripped with disgust.

“You’re that guy who stuck to the Hero’s side at the imperial banquet, right?”
“…”
“That bootlicker who acted like he was something special, defending the Hero?”

Carlyle blinked.
‘What the hell’s this guy’s problem?’
He was probably aiming for me. I was a bit popular, you know.

‘…’
…No, seriously. Could you at least *pretend* to agree?
‘Shut up.’

Carlyle furrowed his brow.
Whatever the case, even if he couldn’t fight right now, he wasn’t going to just let this guy go.
Who knew how this variable might come back later—it was best to deal with it now.

‘Hero.’
What?
‘Is the lady still tailing me?’

I still sense her presence.
‘And she doesn’t know we’ve noticed her yet?’
Of course not. What do you take me for?

Right.
Carlyle sighed to himself.
Got something planned?

‘Not planned, exactly. I just can’t leave her like that.’
Gray must have felt something seriously off if she was tailing him this far.
In that case, he needed to ease her mind somehow.

‘Let’s see…’
A way to deal with this situation and soothe Gray’s mood.
There had to be something.

‘Hero.’
Hm?
‘Do you remember how far I can hit these guys without killing them?’

……
…the solution might be a little extreme.