Chapter 954: 954: Izario's Past
954: Izario's Past
When Izario asked Fran why she came to the continent of Gordicia, Fran gave him an honest answer.
「It's a request from the Kingdom of Belioth. But really, I came to meet Trismegistus. And to visit some graves.」
「Trismegistus? Meet him, and then what?」
「That's a secret. But I need to meet him.」
「......I see.」
Though suspicious, Izario didn't dig any deeper. He shrugged it off, while adding in a warning.
「The guy's a complete monster. Not just in his abilities, but also his mind and way of being. Keep that in mind when you meet him.」
「A complete monster......?」
「You'll understand when you see him in person. No, maybe you can't tell at first glance? Either way, that's probably what happens to someone when they're forced to live forever. You'd better keep your wits about you.」
「Nn. I'll be careful.」
Izario gave a satisfied nod at Fran's reply. I guess he was a caring guy after all.
「What's this about visiting some graves?」
「Visiting my mom and dad. They both died on this continent......」
Fran told him the story of her life. She had traveled with her parents on a journey to evolve before settling down in Gordicia. After a brief period of happiness, her village got attacked by antidemons, resulting in her capture by slavers. She was later saved by her Master and returned to the continent after getting stronger.
「Their grave is in Castel.」
「......I see how it is.」
Izario muttered briefly as he stared at the ground. Then, he bowed his head to Fran.
「I'm sorry.」
「Why?」
「For asking you all the weird questions, and getting jealous of you for such stupid reasons.」
「Jealous?」
Izario? Jealous of Fran? Neither of us understood what he meant, so we were filled with questions.
If Izario felt so much jealousy to the point of needing an apology, I certainly never noticed it.
「......I'm just an ordinary guy. I barely have any talent, and it's not like I'm super smart either. All my 43 years of life are nothing compared to the dozen or so years you've lived.」
「Even though you're Rank S and have a divine sword?」
「Heh, that's pretty much all I have.」
Izario shrugged his shoulders with a self-mocking smile.
「A man with no talent, only praised because of the blade at his side. That's me.」
「......」
Isn't he being a little hard on himself? Fran didn't know how to respond to this either.
「When I first became an adventurer, they all called me "The Talentless".」
「Your alias?」
「Nah, just an insult befitting a guy with no talent.」
Izario was born in a small, remote village.
His village was poor and living conditions were harsh, a place where food was constantly in shortage. Izario and his friends ran away and became adventurers because they could no longer stand living in such poverty.
All of them were the younger sons of peasants from the village, the poorest of the poor. They naturally had no skill with magic, so they honed their abilities as swordsmen. That was pretty much their only choice.
Many had the tendency to prefer swords, probably due to the legendary defeat of the Evil God at the hands of the Sword God. When someone thought of a weapon, the first thing coming to mind would be the sword.
Since this idea continued for so many years, more and more swords spread throughout the world. Swords became cheap and easy to obtain, so more people started teaching the arts of the blade. As a result, the number of swordsmen increased even further.
Young Izario and his friends followed this trend. Armed with wooden swords and rusty blades stolen from goblins, they began work as newbie adventurers.
But among his companions, Izario was particularly bad with swords. While his friends steadily improved their skills, Izario's skill levels just wouldn't rise.
There's a clear difference in talent between different people. Even if two guys train in exactly the same manner, this difference will show up in their stats and skill level.
Izario just had particularly poor talent for using swords. However, he was poor and could not afford to buy new weapons, so he had no choice but to continue down this path.
Then one day, the moment of their adventurer rank-up arrived. Now they could afford to spend a little. They being Izario's companions.
Izario was the only one who could not advance in rank because of his inferior abilities. He had been forced to use a weapon he was not good with all this time, leaving him as weak as he started.
Due to this, Izario's friends booted him out. They wanted to party with stronger adventurers in order to earn more money.
Izario was filled with anger, hatred, and despair. But in the end, he decided to continue as an adventurer.
This was the only way he knew how to live. No, he could have gone back to his village and worked in the fields, but his petty pride would not allow him to run home.
I'm sure his spite and sense of rebellion against his former friends played a role too.
He continued to take on lower rank requests while solo, gradually improving his skills.
His Sword Mastery skill leveled at a snail's pace, but it grew to level 2, 3, then 4. If someone else trained as hard as him, they probably would have reached Holy Sword Mastery by then, but... he refused to give up.
Finally, Izario discovered a portion of his talents. The talent for defense. His offensive abilities were still awful, but he sometimes managed to pull off parries and blocks exceeding his skill level.
Before he realized it, the "Parry", "Redirection", and "Block" skills appeared in his skill list. These new skills quickly surpassed the level of his Sword Mastery.
Perhaps if he had switched to using a greatshield or a swordbreaker, he might never have been abandoned by his comrades in the first place. But Izario still preferred the sword.
He was so attached to swords that he couldn't understand his own obsession.
Around the time Izario finally reached Rank E solo, he heard a rumor about his friends reaching Rank C at a rather young age. This was just before he turned 25 years old.
Izario finally realized it the moment he heard the news. His friends were geniuses all along, while he was the only one lacking talent. He never belonged in their party. Swallowing his loneliness and frustration, he gave a small wish for their luck. He had accepted the reality.
However, fate works in cruel and mysterious ways. I've never heard about any god ruling over fate, but if they exist, they must be some prankster asshole.
Izario ran into his fateful encounter one day in a flea market selling junk. There was a magic sword no one had been able to equip, gathering dust in the corner. Somehow, he managed to equip it.
This was the day he found the divine sword Ignis.
Not even Izario himself knew why he was chosen. For whatever reason, he alone managed to equip the divine sword and wield its power.
Izario the Talentless became the Izario the Crimson Blade, and his adventurer status jumped all the way to Rank S. The guild's rules allowed this kind of preferential treatment for divine sword wielders. They certainly could no longer treat him as any old adventurer.
With his position suddenly elevated, so did the looks people gave him. Everyone treated him the exact opposite way now. At the same time, he started receiving high-ranked requests.
Many of the requests were for exterminating powerful beasts he could never dream of challenging before. Yet, completing them was as simple as snapping his fingers.
Izario always had a talent for defense that far exceeded his rank. What happens if you add the offensive power of a divine sword to that?
It didn't matter. In the first place, he had no need for defense with Ignis in his hands. He would unsheathe the blade, and his victory was already guaranteed.
Despite the praise he received, everything felt empty. The entirety of his training was ultimately pointless. Who cared about Izario's own strength, as long as he had the divine sword? Everyone would treat him the same way regardless.
No one looked at Izario the man, they only wanted his sword.
「When I met my former friends again, I was astonished.」
Their eyes were filled with spite and envy, yet all of them gave him empty flattery. The geniuses he had once despised were reduced to simple thugs in front of Ignis. Simply by holding the blade, he already stood at the top.
After realizing the ridiculousness of it all, Izario stopped going by the "Crimson Blade". Only he knew the reality, he was "The Talentless". He stubbornly kept using that old alias to avoid forgetting the truth.
「I am Izario, the Talentless. An ordinary man with a slight knack for defense, who just happened to stumble on a divine sword.」
Fran seemed to have a gift he did not, and that's why he was jealous of her. He thought her to be a child prodigy with confidence backed by her abilities. One who already had it all, with a glorious past and a promised future.
「What a guy I am, right? All these years and I haven't learned a thing. I'm still assuming other people's histories, getting jealous for no reason, then apologizing for it...... I'm just sick of it all.」
Izario mocked himself as he looked up at the heavens.