Tree of Aeons (an Isekai Story)

310. Edna on Caval

Caval. 

Edna returned this time to Caval with a purpose to place a node tree, preferably somewhere friendly. Caval was a land of knights, and a land of small feudal kingdoms. These feudal kingdoms laid claim to [hero sword], and that served as the foundation of that kingdom’s power. 

How this actually worked was an interesting mechanic at play in this world, and it was something she wanted to see more of. 

The descendant swords. 

“So, Ebon. How many more levels?” Edna asked as they both approached the small fortified town. They could feel the magic that leaked out of the city, but Caval was a fairly safe world, and so, they were both in rather ordinary village wear. A tough outer tunic and pants, though they both had much more comfortable inner clothing. 

“One.” Ebon said. “Level 149.”

Edna nodded. She knew he’s been at the very edge of the path for a long time, though the exact details often eluded her. Ebon’s service to the Order was probably a hundred years long. Edna nodded, she remembered many years ago, he was just a young [Aeonic Battle Knight]. “You’ve come a long way, my disciple. There’s but a few more steps to take.”

Ebon nodded with a brief sigh, a mix of frustration and exhaustion. Ebon was not the only one.

Many Valthorns reach Level 149 and never move for years, even decades, like Ebon, his service is almost a century long, even with all the breaks he took in between service. Even Roon and Johann stared at that final level for years before they made it. “This last step feels a lot further than all the ones before.”

Edna tapped the man that was once her disciple on the shoulder. “Keep at it. We’re almost there.” 

It was a small fortified town, and six guards stood at the gates, decked out in polished steel armor. They wore the liveries of a nearby Lord. [Knights] and [Squires], perhaps with the ability [Clean Armor] or some variant thereof. Edna’s eyes, in particular, noticed one of the guards who stood nearby wielding a magical blade. A blade that has a faint presence of the hero sword.

“Visitors?” 

“Yes.” Edna and Ebon both smiled. “Can we come in?”

“Bags?” 

Edna and Ebon both handed over their bags and just briefly checked them. One of the knights whispered to the other. “I keep getting nothing.” 

The other knightguard replied. “Really? Let me try. [Security Inspection].”

Edna and Ebon glanced at each other and immediately, they both activated small rings on their hands. An illusionary object meant to throw off [Inspect].

“What are you talking about? I get [Villager] and [Traveller] for both of them.” The other knight tapped the man. “You must’ve drained your magical energy.”

“Oh.”

“Anyway, you two are free to go. If you’re here to live permanently, you’ll need to speak to the Town Lord, but other than that the laws of our town are similar to all others. Don’t cause trouble. If you’re here to watch the Seed Drawing Ceremony, it’ll be in four days.” 

They were exactly here for the Seed Drawing Ceremony, and entered the fortified town. 

At first glance it seemed just like any other town. In fact, that was what the scouts thought at first. They didn’t have much time to dive deep into how they worked back then, but now that there was only one real demon-king infested world to deal with, time was quite plentiful.

This town had one hero sword, and unlike most other towns, it had its hero sword out in full display. It stood at the  town’s center, a gleaming golden sword that stood embedded into a large stone. It’s presence wasn’t really that great, for both Edna and Ebon, it didn’t seem particularly interesting. 

They built a small water fountain around it, and there were at least two knights present, standing guard. The sword itself had a massive steel chain that tied it to the ground. At this distance, they could feel the subtle pulse of the hero swords, and strangely enough, a voice. 

Well, only Ebon could, and was partly why she brought him along. “You could hear it?” Edna asked. Edna as a domain holder couldn’t interact with this aspect of the hero sword. Strangely enough, Edna didn’t detect her domain blocking anything. 

It was as if whatever ‘feelers’ the sword had knew it couldn’t reach her.

Ebon paused as he focused, and then, he nodded. “It’s- it’s whispering. It’s saying something, I can’t quite make out what it is.” 

“I see.” Edna nodded. The Valthorn agents claimed they’ve heard strange voices when they were around the cities and towns, but most of the hero swords are hidden in secluded courtyards and spaces. Edna checked her dates again. “Well, don’t think too much about it, we still have time. Let’s rest.” 

The fortified town didn’t get many visitors normally, but there were slightly more than normal. So, at the inn, the two managed to talk to some other slightly drunk villagers to find out more about the Seed Drawing Ceremony. 

“I’m still amused that every year or two there’s still visitors that want to see the ceremony. It’s nothing much, really.” The visitor said. “Nothing much for us to see, at least, but it’s a lot of work for the swordsmiths.”

“We’re travelers, and we’ve not seen a seed drawing ceremony. What is it about?”

“It’s when the swordsmiths offer their blades to the divine blades, and the divine blades share fragments with the blades. It happens every year or so, when the divine blade is ready. The swordsmith with the best blades gets to work with the fragment.”

Ebon couldn’t help but ask. “How is it judged?”

“Judged? It’s no eating contest! The divine blade chooses whichever blade it wants. Sometimes it chooses none at all and the swordsmiths will be in trouble with the town lord.” 

“The sword chooses?” Edna found that strange. “Do the swordsmiths hear the sword talk?”

“Oh! Those that hear the sword’s words are the sword whisperers! They have a destiny to be great swordsmiths!” 

Ebon frowned. He was nowhere near a swordsmith, but he knew he heard the sword. “Doesn’t it just say weird things?”

“No one knows. Swordsmiths are very secretive about that sort of thing.” The slightly drunk villager said. The town was a little more crowded as the day of ceremony got closer, and Ebon noticed the voices from the sword began to sound more like a chaotic mess. 

There just wasn’t much in the townfolk’s lives that even supposedly boring Seed Drawing Ceremonies become an event.

The town square was converted into a podium, as the fountain’s water was drained, and replaced with temporary wooden floors. 

A priest appeared, but he was different from the normal priests. He looked like a priest, and yet, also a swordsmith. He was large, muscular and filled with scars from years of work in the workshops. Even though he wore the deep brown robes of the priesthood, they could tell he was once a swordsmith.

The priest seemed like a fairly mid-level individual. He was likely around level 60 to 70. In one cordoned off area, a group of swordsmiths looked nervous, and they all held a set of weapons wrapped in thick cloth. All of them have done it before.

So, Edna focused her observation on the gossip and rumors from the travelers. Merchants who had seen more places.

“I heard this isn’t a powerful hero sword.” One of those in the crowd whispered to the others.

“It’s not, that’s why the town lord’s only a town lord.” Another one whispered back. 

The priest-smith walked to the hero sword, and began to chant. 

Edna felt him channel priestly powers. Holy powers common in priests and those who had a leg in these sort of classes. The sword glowed and emitted a powerful magical presence, as if it was a sword in its prime, as if it’s original creator still lived. 

For a moment, this was a hero sword as if a hero still held it.

The priest turned and roared at the swordsmiths. “Present your seedling candidates to the Holy Sword.” 

The swordsmiths were ready, each of them held a finely crafted sword in their hand, and they all walked towards the platform. Once they approached, the hero sword seemed to glow, and it had wisps of light that reached out. The wisps touched the swords presented by the swordsmiths briefly. 

The priest continued to chant, as if continuing to supply magical energy to the hero sword, and then, the hero sword pulsed.

“The Sword has chosen.” The priest said. 

The hero sword pulsed once more, and then, two of the swordsmiths’ creations floated up. The hero sword shot a beam of light into each of them, and those swords glowed. 

“Two of the crafted blades are worthy!” The priest said, and the crowd cheered. Those that failed looked dejected, but some looked relieved. The floating glowing swords landed back in the hands of the swordsmith, and they looked nervous.

The priest said a prayer, and then turned to face the crowd.

“And so, it is now the duty of the swordsmith to forge the greatest blades with the seedlings granted to them.”

Ebon looked at Edna. “Isn’t the sword already done?”

“I thought so too.” Edna nodded, as she then tried to ask a villager. “What happens now?”

“Oh? The swordsmiths are supposed to refine the blades some more, usually they do some polishing, some engraving and all that kind of stuff to make the sword worthy of a hero-descended sword.” The villager said, clearly faking a level of expertise. Edna didn’t buy it. 

The details of what exactly happened with the hero swords and these ‘descendant’ swords is unclear, though Edna and Ebon both knew that most of these weapons were in the hands of the town lords and his chosen knights. So, the two decided to watch. 

Secretly.

***

They infiltrated one of the victorious swordsmith’s workshops that very day. The swordsmith, a relatively middle aged man, probably around levels 40 to 50 in some [blacksmith] related class was greeted by his apprentice, a younger boy that was about level 15 to 20. Edna and Ebon, both shrouded by magic, hid in the corners and watched how the Swordsmith did their work.

From what Edna knew, it was exceptionally hard to work on hero items, due to the presence of star mana within them. Only Aeon could attempt to replicate and work with them, but the powers of the [Hero’s Forge] were in a league of its own. 

“Master, I have the things ready.” The apprentice said nervously. The apprentice looked nervous, but from what Edna understood, this swordsmith made a few descendant swords in the past few years, so this wasn’t their first run.

“Good.” The swordsmith said, “Let’s get started.”

The actual space where the sword would be forged wasn’t like any other part of the workshop. It was clean, and almost seemed like an altar, rather than a workshop. The swordsmith placed the sword with the hero sword’s seed on the altar, and then, the smith knelt before it.

He started to pray. The glow of the sword began to spread, and then, touched the swordsmith itself. The glow spread, and for a moment, both the swordsmith and the sword were connected by a glow of light. 

Holy power allowed the smith to reach into the sword, and change it.

The swordsmith began muttering some prayers, and the apprentice placed a tray of items next to the swordsmith. The tray contained a rather random selection of items. A few types of metals, a few types of wood, flowers, pens, paper, some food, some drinks, a small cup of blood, and a cup of water.

He picked up some metals, some items, and then, somehow offered it to the sword. 

The sword seemed to change ever so slightly. The swordsmith offered some more steel, but some of the items were then suddenly rejected and flung far away. 

“Okay, not that one.” The swordsmith said, “Something else. Faster.”

The apprentice quickly offered some flowers. The flowers were strangely taken, as they vanished into the sword.

The apprentice handed a pen to the swordsmith, but then he stopped. “Wait. It’s saying something. Wait. It’s ready. Apprentice, wait.”

The swordsmith turned to face the sword and bowed to it. He began to mutter certain words of prayer, and the glowing between the two brightened slightly. 

At that moment, the swordsmith picked up a hammer that was on his belt. “I am ready.” 

Edna and Ebon watched, as the swordsmith’s eyes began to glow, as if he was having an out of body experience. They felt some magic flow between the swordsmith and the descendant sword, and the swordsmith just knelt for the rest of the evening, his eyes glowing but his mind clearly not present. 

The apprentice held the swordsmith, and kept him supported during the rest of the evening. Edna and Ebon watched, and Edna felt the subtle shifts in the sword during this entire time. Sometimes it got stronger, sometimes it turned weaker. 

Maybe it wasn’t the perfect outcome, but in the depths of night, the glow between the two vanished, and the swordsmith returned to his body thoroughly exhausted. The sword landed back on the altar. “Water.” 

The apprentice ran with two large mugs which the swordsmith finished in two big gulps. At that point, the apprentice asked. “How did it go, master?”

“I- I think I did decently. Let’s check the sword. Help me up.” The swordsmith’s body was kneeling the entire evening, and so, the apprentice helped him up. The two walked to the sword to inspect it.

The swordsmith looked at it a little frustrated.

“Ah. It’s not much different from what it was. I thought I did better.”

The man took a deep breath, and prayed anyway. 

“Let’s make a scabbard for the sword tomorrow.” The man left the blade on the altar and took a good rest. 

***

The next few days, the man made a relatively elaborate scabbard, and then, Edna and Ebon watched the two swordsmiths present their completed weapons to the Town Lord. 

The Town Lord inspected the weapons, and didn’t seem too impressed. 

Despite that, he said nothing of it, and just thanked the two swordsmith for their work. One of the Lord’s treasurers paid the two for their services, and sent them away. 

The two infiltrators didn’t just leave it as that, and stayed back to listen to their honest assessment. 

“It’s average. Good enough for knights, but not something that could replace this.” The town lord tapped a sword on his belt, also a hero-descendant sword. Edna noticed almost everyone in the lord’s personal knights possessed a sword of similar category. 

The Lord’s knight commander nodded, as it was now his turn to inspect the weapon. “It’ll be good enough for the newly promoted knights, but this does mean we can only promote two new knights this year.” 

“Two will have to do, then.” The Lord declared to his men, “Let the remaining squires compete for the post.” 

***

Ebon and Edna left the two to explore another bigger town. 

Caval’s towns were all spread far apart, and the farms were fairly clustered. One of the primary causes of the high density and clustering was because of the hero swords. 

A town without a hero sword is no town. 

There were smaller villages, but these were often linked to a larger town that regularly sent knights to protect them from the monsters. In between all the towns and cities were plenty of untamed forests and mountains, and monster lairs. 

On a macro level, this fed into the myth of the Knights of Caval. Knight would set out to slay the monsters, defend their cities from the dark creatures. 

According to the reports, the largest towns generally correlated to the strength of their hero swords. Stronger hero swords attracted more people to live under its protection, since the powerful hero swords created stronger descendant swords, and stronger knights. 

The hero swords are like fruit trees. Each hero summoned to Caval starts with a sword seed, which grows into his personal sword. It is this sword that becomes a hero sword when he dies, or when he gives it away. It is said that a hero could create a new hero sword if he gives one away, but there is some kind of price to be paid. Details were fairly scarce, since most of the drunk knights only regurgitated tales from their travels, the stories brought by travelers and merchants or whatever their lords told them. 

The next city they arrived at didn’t display the hero sword out in the open. Instead, it was hidden deep in the city’s keep. The city lord styled himself a King, though it seemed that no one dared to speak up to the King, since he didn’t have the [King] class, and instead only had a [Lord] class. The city never had a [King] in its history, but at some point, the system could recognize it as true, and would convert the city lord’s title into a [King].

Edna and Ebon weren't particularly interested in the city’s politics, as their focus was learning about the details of the hero sword, and how they worked. 

The world of knights and their glorious accomplishments didn’t spread on their own and instead, it was the traveling bards and songstresses who amplified the knight’s glories. 

The relative ratio of armed warriors to non-warriors was quite low compared to the other worlds, simply because a knight that had a descendant sword could do the work of ten soldiers against the monsters. Due to the limited nature of these swords, Caval’s towns and cities valued quality over quantity. The largest amount in any city were the squires. Squires who were soldiers in training but have yet to receive their descendant swords.

Even in a city with 20,000 to 50,000 people, there were only about 2,000 actual squires, and about 100 to 200 knights. On the other worlds, the military’s strength was at least three to five times the number. 

High leveled knights who were level 60 to 80, and outfitted with the descendant swords could slay demon champions. It’s a virtuous feedback loop, where a small number of strong warriors slaying demons and monsters meant less sharing of experience, which created even stronger warriors. 

This specialization also meant there was more resources and manpower for more artistic pursuits and specializations. Bards, woodworkers who made a range of instruments, farmers, brewers, the priest-smiths, and many other kinds of frivolous entertainment.

Here in one such larger city, that was in full display. 

Taverns with beers, dancers, singers and bards were all over the main street. It was common in Caval that the temples and the workshops were often located next to each other. The priests of this world prayed to a range of gods, and unlike the other worlds, Caval’s temples worshiped a pantheon of gods. Hawa, Neira, and Gaya. The Cavalians referred to these gods as the Three Swords of Gods, and they often pray to all three together as Three. 

“She’s around here.” Ebon reached a quiet home located in the workshop district of the city. It was a small, slender home that was probably once a workshop, but the workshop was now replaced with a small garden of flowers. Walls replaced with open windows for the sun.

Their goal was an old priestess and a great sword whisperer. In her youth, the rumors claimed she made powerful descendant swords. But mainly, because she was really old, and thus knew things many didn’t. 

Ebon checked. “She’s inside.”

“Got it.” Edna knocked on the door. “Let’s go.”

“Hello, we’re looking for Priestess Shuwan.” 

“I’m not a priestess anymore.” The old woman responded. 

Edna grinned. “Then we’re looking for Shuwan, we wish to speak to her.” 

“Come in.” The former priestess’s home was clean, and well lit with ample sunlight from the large windows. The living room was fairly narrow, but it didn’t feel that way. Two of the walls were decorated with scabbards, their swords nowhere to be found. “Sit, sit. Do you want some tea? What can this old woman do for you?”

Edna and Ebon smiled, and so Edna started. “That would be nice, but we’re here to learn about the past, and the hero swords that are all over our world.”

Shuwan smiled, brewed a pot of hot tea and sat down on the table with three cups. Ebon quickly helped her pour the tea. 

“Oh? You want my story?”

“Yes.” Edna said. 

“That’s probably the third time someone ever asked, and in the first two times, it was a hero. Are you a hero?” Shuwan smiled. 

Edna smiled back, and shook her head. “No.” Most of these worlds didn’t have an appreciation of the truth and history. They were busy surviving year on year, and even when they did create documents about history, it often spoke about the glories and achievements of their cities, kings, lords and knights. Things about the nature of hero swords would be mentioned in passing, but not much attention was given to them. The swords were how things are, and how things were, and how things will be.

Someone like Shuwan with her long history, knew and seen a lot of things, and interestingly, it was only people like heroes that would think about speaking to someone like her. 

The woman was old, and at almost three hundred years old, it was probably the limit of her level-extended lifespan. 

“And if you’re not the hero, why should I tell you?” Shuwan said. 

Edna smiled. “What would it take for us to hear the truth?” 

Shuwan found that funny, and nodded. “I jest. I’m an old woman happy to talk about my past. Too bad few want to listen and many have long forgotten who I once was. Where should we start?”

“What are the hero swords?”

“It is what you know. They are the remains of the heroes’ journey. Each hero arrives in our world with a seed, which with their nurturing, grows into a powerful weapon. Depending on the Three Sword’s blessings, the swords gain different types of powers. When I traveled with the hero Yoru so many, many years ago, he would visit each old hero sword and he would then imprint a memory of that hero sword into his own. The old heroes gain a wide variety of powers, because they can summon the swords they have met during their journey to aid them.”

“You traveled with the hero?” Edna asked.

“Yes! I traveled with two heroes, actually. Yoru, when I was a young woman, and later Zahar, when I was an older priestess of the sword.” Shuwan said proudly. “But it’s an old story, that was- maybe two hundred years ago. Back when the three or four heroes arrived and I was the one chosen by the Lord to accompany the hero and provide my wisdom.”

“But why?” Edna asked. She knew why, but she wanted to hear it from her.

“Heroes need knowledge. They need company. They need someone to be there for them, care for them, and love them.” Shuwan said frankly. “They are fragile men and women, and even if they have strong powers, the temples know they must be cared for, and the temple- well, the temple wanted children from the heroes.” 

“Oh. Did you have any?”

Shuwan smiled. “Yes! My grandson’s now the Knight Commander of the city! Of course, the hero’s blood is a little diluted, but still!”

“But, why?”

The former priestess laughed. “Why else? Our children can draw more out of the hero’s descendant swords.”

“Ah.” Edna chuckled. “So, these hero swords, what else do you know about them? What’s something we don’t know?”

“Hah. Such a hero-way of asking questions, I’d almost think you came from their world.” Shuwan laughed, but talked anyway. “Well, the heroes- well, Zahar gave away one of his hero swords when he was level 90 or so, just because he saw a village that was really vulnerable and wanted to protect them. So he planted his hero sword there and then.”

“Must a hero plant the sword?” 

“Not always. That’s what I’m for, as well. If the hero falls in battle, I’ll retrieve his hero sword. The hero swords actually contain a fragment of their being, a part of their soul, and it resonates better with me than anyone else because I was their companion on the journey. The companion is always a priest-smith, because we can work with the sword he left behind. We can speak to it, better than anyone else.” 

But eventually, they too die, and so lesser smiths must learn to pick up the slack. 

“Is it always a girl?” Edna wondered.

“Not always. A man is fine, as long as the two have a strong friendship. Sending a woman to be a hero’s companion has its challenges, since a woman may find the hero less appealing and there’s a lot of complicated feelings that don't make us a good companion. I was lucky that I liked the two heroes I was assigned to, but it’s not always the case. Romance and love isn’t necessary, all that is needed is a strong connection that the hero sword inherits. Are you two trying to be the next hero companion? There should be a demon king in another five or so years, but it’s hard to say whether there will be a hero.”

Edna just nodded. “You can say that.” 

“Ah. Hopefully they send more than one. It rarely ends well with only one hero.” Shuwan said with a sigh.

“So, a hero can create a second hero sword?” Edna tried to redirect the question back to the earlier question. “Why not create more? The world clearly has space for many more.”

“Each new hero seed costs levels. Five to ten levels of the hero’s [Hero] class, and the new hero sword starts from scratch.” Shuwan said.

“Starting from scratch?” Edna asked. “Do the hero swords have levels?”

“Yes!” The old woman smiled. “They are special like that. They are a part of the hero, and so, each hero gains two sets of levels. One for himself, and one for his sword. Once given away they stopped growing, the swords transformed into the objects you see out there, but they gained some other abilities to protect their new home.” 

Edna’s mind immediately thought of Aeon’s idea of creating a living weapon. That was possible with a titan soul, but here, the hero’s sword was doing something else altogether. 

***

“Do you think we can do something similar? A living weapon that’s so powerful that we could use it on the demon Sun-Rings?” Edna asked. “Something that outlasts even the heroes.”

If the hero swords were living weapons, then the natural idea was for a hero from Caval to gain power across many, many worlds to create a super-hero sword. Or whether they could make something with a titan soul, and push the living aspect to it’s limits by cobbling multiple titan soul-like weapons together. 

“This makes this world a dilemma for us. If we stop hero summons, we’re fulfilling our end of the bargain, but we wouldn’t be able to experiment with the heroes.” Edna said. “I’m being a little selfish, but I really want to see what it’s like to have these living swords pushed to the limits. Could they be more powerful than the heroes themselves?”

“Then we should let Aeon know to just hold off on this world. I think we could afford a delay to our plans?” Ebon wondered. “Skipping one cycle is what, ten or twenty years? Aeon could wait that long, no problem.”

Edna agreed. “Aeon won’t be the problem. Time is hardly a concern for him, and waiting a decade more or two is indeed nothing. I am more concerned with my peers. Would my peers be willing to hold off for twice as long? Alka may be on my side, since he’s willing to experiment, but will Stella let me do this? Are we playing with the lives of my fellow warriors?”

“We could let the demon king appear but don’t kill it? Leave it incapacitated and allow the summoning of heroes to trigger?”

“Agreed. That’s possible with Lumoof’s powers and my swords. Now, I’ll have to convince the rest of my domain holders to hold on for a little longer.”