The parts that hands could reach were severely grimy, and much of the pattern had also disappeared. With the long passage of time, its natural dignity had grown.
Jade and gold. The seal had been made with a perfect understanding of the characteristics of the material.
The parts that weren't damaged were detailed and made with a level of skill that even Weed wouldn't have been able to achieve. It looked like a dirty golden dragon from afar, but up close, it felt as if it would come to life and move at any moment.
“I knew it wasn't a normal work, but who could really make such a sculpture?”
There was one person who vaguely came to mind.
If it was an emperor's royal seal, then it didn't need to be said more than once that it would be treasured preciously. Even so, the royal seal had endured so much time that it had become this worn.
A video of some kind began to play for Weed — it was a memory kept within the sculpture.
An old man wearing ordinary cloth attire was sculpting.
In a huge royal palace, knights and magicians were lying prostrate with extreme politeness.
Slice, slice.
The form of a dragon was being made under the old man's sculpting knife. The knife moved slowly, as if time itself was holding its breath.
He shaved the places needing to be shaved and added to the places needing to be added. Only normal movements of the hand could be seen, but the golden dragon that was being created possessed such nobility that one could not tear their eyes away from it.
Whenever the sculpting knife moved, there was a worry that he might possibly make a mistake that would ruin this great work. However, when the sculpting knife sliced past, the figure was transforming into statue steadily nearing completion with such surety that the nervousness was laughable.
A treasure! A golden dragon and stamp that seemed as if they would heighten even his dignity with their radiant beauty!
It was the birth of the royal seal.
“May this be the item that symbolizes me,” declared the old man who made the seal.
The knights and magicians then cried out. “We accept the will of His Majesty!”
It didn't end there. There were countless sculptures across the royal palace! They were similar to the humans, but the sculptures with superior physical conditions, the animal sculptures, the bird sculptures, and sculptures that looked like monsters all opened their mouths at the same time.
“We accept the will of our Master!”
SwordNoob let out a deep sigh.
“I'm really too old. Even meeting a woman is difficult because I'm old.”
The instructors and disciples were meeting Orcs, Dark Elves, or Humans and more or less getting along. They made girlfriends and also hunted in parties.
“I heard even SwordNoob16 held hands with his girlfriend.”
“When?”
“Within thirty-seven days, apparently.”
“Woah, that's fast! Is it okay to progress so quickly?”
“The truly fast one is someone else. SwordNoob401 already went arm-in-arm to the movie theatre.”
“Damn, all the way to the movie theatre! He's a fellow who unusually disliked things like movies, isn't he. Didn't he fall asleep snoring while watching the movie?”
“I'm told he watched an action movie. After the movie ended, he showed his girlfriend brick smashing and a two-tiered roundhouse kick and she liked it, calling him reliable.”
The legend-like love stories that came from among the disciples gave them hope, though there were also many cases where couples didn't meet very many times and dropped contact, friend registration was cancelled, or were sent a text that said sorry.
“Phew, those things all happen when you're young.”
SwordNoob envied the passion of the disciples. If he had just been at the age of the instructors or so, he would've been able to meet a woman somehow. After all, becoming an oppa from a mister took no time at all these days.
[T/N: Oppa is an informal way to call an older male, used for both familial and external relationships. “Oppa” indicates a lot more closeness than “mister.”]
However, because SwordNoob was a seasoned middle-aged man, he was very awkward with young girls and women. Granted, his fighting ability was fearsome, so despite being only in the late 200s for level, he was welcome in any party. If SwordNoob just went to the square, everyone tried to recruit him.
Only, it was just that the atmosphere was difficult in the hunting ground.
“Um, SwordNoob-nim.”
“…”
They would regularly use honorifics with him. The young and youthful party members used informal speech with each other and got along intimately, but it wasn't easy for SwordNoob to fit in with them. SwordNoob tried to find a woman in the same age group as him.
“It shouldn't be hard since all kinds of people gather in the world of Royal Road.”
There were many in their early 30s or 40s, of course. They were very commonly seen in a city or village. If the men fished, the ones that looked like their wives would make spicy seafood stew for them.
“Honey, please eat some spicy stew before continuing.”
It was a very heartwarming sight.
There were also cases where they set up a shop and conducted business, but their young children would occasionally come to buy a weapon, armor, or miscellania.
“Son, can you buy arrows from us for 20 Gold?”
“Mom, what kind of harsh joke is that?”
“Honey, our son says he's leaving the house.”
“Alright. As his parents, it's probably our duty to at least call over a mover, right?”
There were affectionate scenes of children getting daringly ripped off by their parents.
SwordNoob went around cities and towns as he roamed. He massacred monsters that came at him in the wilderness, and also leapt into nests of monsters whilst holding one sword.
“When I was young, I did things like this so often.”
He held a sword in his mouth and leapt into the river water. When he got hungry, he skewered fish in a deep part of the clear river. It was truly difficult to overcome the water's flow and strength and swing his sword to catch fish. However, SwordNoob actually succeeded easily. That was because he didn't push forcefully, but followed the current's flow to catch fish.
Ding!
Sword Mastery skill proficiency has improved.
His Sword Mastery skill went up even while catching fish. They weren't high leveled monsters, but it seemed he could gain Sword Mastery as a characteristic of the location. Like Sculpting, the Sword Mastery skill grew on diverse experiences.
“While I'm like this…”
SwordNoob floated to the top of the water, took in a big breath, and went into the river again.
Swiiiisshh!
The sword he swung in a single breath slid past the body of a fish.
Swordsmanship that was thinly slicing sashimi!
The fish was become sashimi while blinking its eyes, alive. And while underwater, as well!
Sorriness filled SwordNoob's eyes. 'Looks like I can't do this because it's cruel.'
It had been a long time since he had properly shown off his swordsmanship skills. After that time when life and death had been separated by a second, he had never done his best. Even Royal Road was simply entertainment. It was so that he could try testing his still-honed swordsmanship, but he was sorry for the fish. SwordNoob almost never even hunted herbivores like rabbits, squirrels, or deer in the Versailles Continent, either.
'Something I can't even eat… there's no need to take their lives pointlessly.'
Feeling sorry, SwordNoob wrapped the fish in bandages. They were still alive, due to his marvelous swordsmanship.
“Gasp!”
Then he rose to the top of the water and moved downstream. It wasn't that he determined his destination, he was just wandering randomly.