"The legendary sword saint the president said... I wonder if he's really here... he's losing confidence."

Smells of blue grass and the stirring sounds of animals that we sometimes hear.

That was something that, when coupled with the darkness of the surrounding area, felt creepy somewhere. The morning mist that allowed him to stand in the back of such a deserted mountain moistened the yellow hair of Nene-Velveta walking down the mountain path.

Woman with yellow eyes and double eyelids, child-faced.

It has been a concern these days that I tend to be mistaken for about five years below my actual age of twenty-two.

From time to time, I wear a plain setup from work to increase my chest exposure in particular because I want to be seen as a little bit of an adult.

Nevertheless, since her development as a woman is considerable, she can only unconsciously claim herself to be a minor girl with a loose sense of chastity - making her feel threatened by wind discipline.

Her purpose seems to be to meet one man, who lives in this mountain.

The old man, who turns ninety this year, called his name Alan-Smithy. Seventy years ago, at a time when the war between the Confederation and the Empire was in a state of heat, he was a knight who stood on another battlefield and worked single-handedly to relax the Federation's disadvantages.

If I waved a single-edged sword called a knife, I could have a corpse path in a line of enemies that was far away.

On the battlefield of the plain, a distance of 100 medas (* 1 meda = 1 meter) was crossed by just three leaps.

Unusually sensitive to hostility, when he noticed the presence of an assassin directed against him, he invariably turned back the lead.

The only wound received during the war was one small cut.

There is this anecdote, commonly known as' Kensei '.

However, when he became more out of the news than on the tabular stage and, over the course of seventy years, was considered 'unrealistic' and 'exaggerated expression in time of war', these facts weathered from people's memories and only became legendary when they even existed.

"After quite a while, I can't feel any signs of people at all, but I wonder if I'm lost in blood... if you believe in legends and superstitions from the mud... what if I wasn't there?

Half-hearted by Alan's presence, he accidentally dropped his shoulder to grief as the words whined.

For this reason, Nene must look for a strong knight, not side by side. So I relied solely on the name Alan, who was heard by someone I knew at the time, and I've been following him for nearly six months.

Lately I heard rumors of a new location, and that's apparently the mountain.

So I'm glad to have entered the mountain with exhilaration, but there's still no sign that I'll ever find it.

In the first place, despite the rumor of 'being in this mountain', the direction to go is insignificant, even looking for a dubious man to really be there - so to speak, just unplanned per go.

Even though I don't feel comfortable, if I climb the gradient for a few hours, there will be physical and mental fatigue in the boulder. If so, it would be the end of spilling it out of my mouth, even to words that would sway my will to "give up and go home".

It was just then that I found a dug hut in the open place in the back of the mountain.

"That... feels like life, there must be someone... could the rumors have been true?

I swell my chest in anticipation and find out what's going on around me with the lighter footsteps as they happen.

Whether they were sourcing food by hunting, the house was hung with bulky meat.

The water bottle, which each adult is likely to subside due to the sound of waterfalls nearby, must be full of fresh water.

The field on the side is lean in soil to see, but they're working on it somehow to grow vegetables.

As he speculated on this and the color, he followed the tall noise he heard, and Nene found a cursory figure of a man with a salary on the back of the cabin.

"Hmm... I don't remember inviting a guest?

It's like a magnificent age and a visible back, some awesome back.

I'm going to speak up there, and they ask me without looking the other way. Nene is amazed. So, I got frightened. Still, finally - I was happy to meet someone who seemed to change my mind.

"Alan...... are you Mr. Smithy?

"Anyway, I'm Alan... what about you?

"Please forgive my sudden visit. My name is Nene, and I'm with the Peace Service in Eizeon, a neutral country."

The face of the man, who shook his long gray hair and looked back, is badly wrinkled. However, the body from the neck to the bottom made him feel that he was also regarded as physically fit in the kimono.

Long eyebrows that are likely to hide their eyes, long beards around their mouths - their appearance was what made them look old, but the flesh still seemed to be maintained on par with grandeur.

"Well, the lady from the administration, what can I do for you?

"I'd like you to lend it to Mr. Alan. The greatest sword of all time."

"... let's start with the circumstances."

He was taken by Alan, who finished his salary, and Nene cursorily entered the digging shed.

Clean indoors against the exterior. There are some footwear lined up at the end of the raised frame, implying that it is strictly forbidden to soil. In the slab seating area where the furnace enclosed was connected, the clothes were laid.

It also seems like an uncivilized lifestyle of extreme poverty, but I have the impression that it is somewhat cozy.

"Well... let's hear it"

Alan prepared a cup of tea for both of us, then we relaxed and talked.

"Count from the war, roughly two hundred years. As I'm sure you know, the Carmezza Empire in the west and the Meortida Federation in the east have been in a state of truce for seventy years."

"... humans died too much. So both the Federation and the Empire wanted a truce together."

"Yes, in clashes between over-expanded military forces… Eiseon's arbitration, which was in a neutral position, entered a state of ceasefire, and later on mutual military forces were antagonizing each other. This is what's been going on for seventy years."

"Speaking of post-ceasefire agreements, I hid right away, so I don't know the area. Really, I've fallen in love with something called war... so?

"Eizeon is so concerned that that equilibrium will also fall apart next year. Federation forces have been on the decline for the past decade."

"If the Federation's strength continues to weaken as it were, when the Empire comes in to renege on the agreement… seventy years, I guess the two forces have already recovered, but has there been a difference"

"Aizeon wants to maintain the truce. And if it's going to happen, keep peace... and if you start a war, many more will die. So, please, I need your help, Mr. Alan."

"What do you want me to do with this old man?

"We ask you to educate your soldiers as instructors in a cavalier training school throughout the Federation's major cities."

Alan, stared at with a serious face, silently swallows hot water and quietly returns to the teapot.

"... even if, for once, I pledged allegiance to the Federation, so I want to give it back. But I can't do it anymore. Since I got older, I haven't been able to help out 10% of the full season. Plus, I'm old, no wonder I'm gone. Besides, it's better to hit someone younger and more skilled."

Having heard the words, Nene thought slightly with her gaze running aside.

If a man is truly that legendary sword saint, there is still hope. It is well known that you are already old, so there are also preparations in these cases. If so, there is one thing to be sure of, and this is indispensable.

"It's disgusting... if you don't mind, could you show me what you can do now?

It is the strength of old Alan.

"I don't mind, but how do I look?

"Let's play a game with me. The power of the sword is one of the best in the administration."

"That's... so why don't I ask you softly"

Let it come to pass and get on the table.

Of the two swinging wooden swords that Alan had brought out of the shack, Nene was given one.

To treat it as a game only, we decided to set the rules and stand together.

"Let's go with a single game with unlimited time...... can we stop inches?

"Seems a lot dull. There is no guarantee that it will work. What, a sword wielded by a ninety-year-old... if you're sure of your arm, you won't hit it."

From sunny weather near noon, warm sunlight shines through the cabin hall.

After a proper distance to this place, he started the game without a signal, with a slight provocation.

Nene, who sets it up first, jumped into Alan's pocket to fly, waving the wooden sword sideways.

Her alias divine speed, from stepping in to slashing, was enough between just blinking.

It was a craftsmanship that could only be done because it temporarily leaped physical abilities by the elaborate control of life energy flowing through the human body.

By contrast, Alan doesn't see any signs of movement.

She just doesn't know if it's because she hasn't been able to handle her movements by keeping the wooden sword loose.

Irresistible or unresponsive? I don't know......

Either way, if we keep swinging through it, it definitely hits, should we stop...

She saw it when she had a hunch and thought about unavoidably stopping the inch.

With his body twitching many times faster than his own, Alan escaped the reach of the slaughter.

If he noticed, he was also taken behind his back, bearing overwhelming and inexperienced, mighty signs. She froze her spine.

I couldn't move as I let it.

"Look, is it one?

Combined with the magnitude of the force and the disproportionate, distracted voice, he is gently slapped on the head with the belly of a wooden sword.

Nene, who was just sweating cold, laughed small when he was sure the legend was real in this result.

"I didn't know that much... you missed it"

Nene, bowing his head inside the digging cabin, had an honest tribute to Alan.

Even though they were losing power because of their old age, they outgrew them. If this had been the slightest difference, I would have felt baffled. In fact, however, there was such a big difference that it was hard to put into words.

She was rather in a lucid mood for a massive defeat until she was completely skinless.

"No, it's not. That's my limit now. I saw your sword and your body, but in a few years, you'll be able to handle it."

"As long as I'm happy to hear you say those words to the legendary Sword Saint. I was sure. Alan must be the only one who can handle this big role."

"... if you really tell me to do it, I'll take care of it. But in my body, which is old and short, there is only one thing I can do. Better not expect too much..."

Nene had an idea, with Alan showing difficulty in turning away, but knowing enough about his prowess.

What he had not expected at all - it was an extremely rare means.

"What if I have something to rejuvenate that old body...?

"Mm... you want to rejuvenate me?

Nene took the vial out of her baggage.

From the leaves of the great tree known as the "Divine Tree" of the Iseon kingdom, there was a Shizuku that could be picked only once every three hundred years. It was a very expensive and valuable substitute, but it was dazzled by the supreme power of Iseon, who ignored the world situation.

"This is Shizuku the Divine Tree, considered a national treasure in my country. The Divine Tree is a great tree that houses an infinite amount of life energy… Legend has it that if a person drinks, the flesh will be rejuvenated until when it was most fulfilling"

"I mean... if you drank this and got a full season of flesh, that's what you're talking about, trying to work as a teacher in a knight training school?

"Yes. Take it on... can you?

Alan closes his eyes and thinks.

Would it be an ambiguous attitude, which is so kind as to put your thoughts on someone, rather than reluctant to reply, that your mind has just now moved away from this place?

Nene, who guessed so, waited in no hurry.

"... fine. It's just a life of decay... let's take a different path this time"

Eventually, to Alan, who decided to, Nene offered him a vial by brightening his expression. He opens his lid and drinks it up in a breath. He nails it and makes the difference.

Will it change gently, or will the wrinkles disappear all at once...

I was a little excited, but she was supposed to cloud her face from it.

Alan's body started feverishing as soon as possible. He holds his throat and chest in pain and boredom, as if he had been poisoned.

"A, Mr. Alan!? So, are you okay!?

Nene, unaware of the actual efficacy of the Shizukuishi of the Divine Tree, could not hide his confusion in this. I was even anxious that maybe I would remain desperate.

You can't keep your mouth shut, I have to do something...

Reflecting on herself, she laid a futon that had been folded into the indoor soot and put Alan to sleep there.

"Hold on... I can't believe this is happening..."

To cool the heat at all, Nene draws water from the water bottle that was outside and prepares it in a bucket.

I wet my previous hand wipe and left it on Alan's forehead. Whenever the hand wipe sucked heat and got warm, I repeatedly replaced it with something cold. Also, if his body sweats badly, I wiped this off my eyebrows.

I kept doing that until dawn the next day.

Nene woke up from a nap.

Near noon from the ascent of the sun, I learned that the futon in front of me was empty. Last night, I was concerned about Alan's health, which had been done as long as I could remember, and she left the cabin and checked the area.

Did you wake up and wear water, there's one water reservoir by the water bottle. If there's a trace of water with this, it must have gone that way. Behind the hut, ahead, there was a constant sound of waterfalls.

Following the trail to the waterfall pot, she found a young man on a rocky reef.

The white hair and kimono pattern look familiar. So the name that calls him, too, naturally does.

"Mr. Alan?

You haven't heard me, or you haven't responded to the young man looking out for the loud waterfall.

If you don't pull it out now, you have a knife in your hand. The more silence and deep breaths such a young man repeated reminiscent of spiritual unity, the more signs of increased life energy were felt by the unusual.

And from a flash of knife extraction, he continued to shake.

A shock wave emitted from a flashing body refluxes the waterfall. A splash of water, which would have affected and wound up, came down a few seconds later. The weather on this spot occasionally rains strangely.

The young man looked back with a smile at Nene, who was flashed by this.

The voice of the young man who replied late is a soft and calm thing to hear.

Good morning, Lord Nene.

Unknown mountain back in the eastern country. An old man, once regarded as the strongest sword saint in history, meets a woman who works in the hope of peace in the world. No one knows yet what this encounter will bring to the afterlife.