I Became the Descendant of My Favorite Character Chapter 5 : Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Trampling the Sprout (1)

A special recomndation.

The authority granted by the guide to only one participant in that year’s Coming-of-Age Ceremony.

Receiving a special recomndation cos with one privilege: even if you fail during the ceremony, you’re given one more chance.

A kind of wild card.

But my case would be different if I received the special recomndation.

The integrated Coming-of-Age Ceremony of the Adjak Autonomous Region is open to those 18 and older.

At only 15, I couldn’t participate through normal ans.

However, with a special recomndation, I could join the ceremony at my current age.

“Is the special recomndation unwelco?”

“No, it isn’t.”

How could it be?

From the start, I was determined to participate in this year’s Coming-of-Age Ceremony.

No matter who the guide was, my goal was to secure the special recomndation by any ans necessary.

‘If Tayon offers it first, that’s the best outco. But receiving the special recomndation doesn’t an I can just rejoice.’

The special recomndation signifies that the guide has chosen as this year’s most promising candidate.

If soone like , not from the single-digit autonomous regions 1 through 9 with strong backing, receives it, I’m bound to face scrutiny.

Of course, Tayon is a hero of the lower autonomous regions.

So might understand why he, as the guide, would grant his exclusive authority.

“I need more help.”

“…….”

Shalessly, I asked the one who saved my life to open his bag even wider.

“If I receive your special recomndation, the single-digit autonomous regions will surely react.”

Tayon watched without any particular response.

He was a character who didn’t exist in the ga, so his disposition was hard to gauge.

But trusting the piercing look in his eyes, I cautiously continued.

“As you can see, my only weapon is broken.”

I held up the wooden sword placed by the bedside.

“My father scraped together all his money to buy it for .”

“…….”

“My father is lying in bed, so it’s hard to ask him for a new one. And……”

“That’s enough.”

Tayon cut off my lengthy explanation.

“I’m not entirely unrelated to why you and your father were attacked by Shabers.”

The reason the Shaber pack fled their habitat—more fearso than holding a Freya Root—was apparently Tayon.

He took off his cloak and spread it on the table.

As he rubbed it, weapons began to spill out.

It wasn’t an ordinary cloak but a subspace, it seed.

“I’ll give you a gift. Is there anything you want among these?”

Tayon even offered the sword at his waist.

‘A mithril sword? Wow, there’s a lot of good stuff.’

A mithril sword, a jagged-edged blade, a greatsword, a broadsword.

Various types of weapons lay in abundance.

Most showed signs of use but were well-maintained.

The sharp blades were also coated with demonic energy.

That was because Tayon had served in the Myeolji Guardians, the Crows.

I imagined how many beasts he must have slain with these countless swords.

Among them, oddly, a wooden sword was mixed in.

Perhaps it stood out because it felt out of place among the nacing blades.

My gaze fell on the wooden sword.

Unlike the others, it bore no trace of demonic energy.

I picked it up.

As I held it, Tayon’s usually impassive brow twitched slightly.

But I had no ti to focus on his reaction.

My Dragon Heart suddenly throbbed wildly, pouring mana toward the sword.

Tangible white mana enveloped the blade.

The wooden sword trembled as if resonating with the Dragon Heart’s mana.

‘This is…’

It was no different from the wooden sword Gerd had given —no, a simple design you could easily find at the Gullok village training grounds.

Compared to the other swords, it was utterly unremarkable.

I held it out to Tayon and said,

“I’ll take this one.”

* * *

“Lal.”

“Yes!”

“Gliez.”

“Yes! That’s !”

“Wilschrin!”

“Yup!”

The next day, around noon.

Tayon called out the nas of those participating in the Coming-of-Age Ceremony in the plaza.

This was supposed to have happened yesterday.

So might have questioned the delay without notice, but no one here dared to.

Tayon’s presence held too much weight in the lower autonomous regions for anyone to question such a trivial matter.

It was a once-in-a-lifeti Coming-of-Age Ceremony, and being called by Tayon himself made the participants’ faces flush with excitent.

Not only the participants but also the residents of the autonomous region had gathered to catch a glimpse of their hero.

“Dear, look at Tayon…”

“His face radiates light!”

Everyone marveled at the most radiant hero of District 18, as if in a dream.

“Are there any listed participants who are absent?”

“None, sir!”

The ceremony participants shouted in unison, brimming with enthusiasm.

Of course, I wasn’t among them.

I stood in the plaza with the village elders, watching the procession of participants.

Until recently, I wasn’t certain of my fate.

Since birth, every action I took was aid at growth.

I prided myself on knowing this world better than its residents.

But this was a tiline 300 years after Adjak’s death.

My knowledge might have beco entirely obsolete.

Even so, I couldn’t give up.

I resolved to do everything I could and made it this far.

The Dragon Heart, moving rhythmically, transmitted mana to .

As I felt its pulse, a steady voice called my na.

For so reason, it inspired trust.

Finally, I was taking my first step into the world.

“Polarin Adjak.”

Tayon stared at and called my na.

“Co forward.”

All eyes in the plaza turned to at once.

“Yes.”

I responded calmly and walked to the center of the plaza.

“I, Tayon Adjak, as the guide of this year’s Coming-of-Age Ceremony, hereby declare.”

“…….”

“Using the authority of the special recomndation, I grant Polarin Adjak participation in the Coming-of-Age Ceremony.”

With Tayon’s declaration, the crowd in the plaza began to murmur.

“Why him?”

“Didn’t they say Tayon rescued that kid from the mountains yesterday?”

“What does that have to do with the special recomndation?”

“How should I know, idiot!”

Whispers ca from all around.

Normally, they might have been more cautious out of respect for Tayon, but this was so unexpected that many couldn’t hold back.

Tayon stood expressionless, just as he had when I made my request.

Yet, I found strange comfort in his calm deanor.

I tightly gripped the sword he had given .

“Thank you. I, Polarin Adjak, will strive not to disappoint Tayon’s faith in .”

Suppressing my surging emotions, I responded as calmly as Tayon.

I knew Tayon would grant the special recomndation.

I also knew the people of the autonomous region would be unsettled by it.

And, as expected, soone objected to the decision.

“Tayon! Could you reconsider?”

It was the instructor, kneeling before him.

“I know you have your reasons, but that boy is only First-Rank and doesn’t even know how to project mana. If you must choose, soone like Grojian over there…”

“…….”

Tayon said nothing.

The murmuring crowd gradually fell silent.

“Are you questioning my words?”

Tayon spoke softly.

As soone who rarely spoke unless necessary, his words froze the crowd in an instant.

But the Gullok instructor was more tenacious than I’d thought.

“Absolutely not, sir. I—I genuinely respect you, Tayon. I’m just afraid this boy might tarnish the reputation of our autonomous region’s hero.”

Fair enough.

The Gullok instructor was the type to motivate children with tales of heroes.

Tayon’s heroic stories were often among them.

It seed those weren’t empty words.

“It’s all for Tayon’s sake…”

The instructor continued, trembling.

His words stemd not from dislike for but from reverence for Tayon.

I believed him.

But that didn’t an I felt good about it.

I glanced at Tayon.

He t my gaze.

Though he gave no signal, I took his look as permission for my actions.

Whoosh.

Using [Rush], I leaped in front of the instructor in an instant.

“Does Tayon’s decision need a reason?”

“But you…!”

The instructor tried to retort but couldn’t finish.

I had been at least ten steps away, yet I appeared right before him in a flash.

By displaying a movent impossible without tunes and mana, I proved I had reached Second-Rank.

“H-How did you?”

The instructor looked incredulous, unable to believe he’d missed my movent.

I drew the wooden sword Tayon had given .

An utterly ordinary wooden sword.

But when I received it, I was genuinely thrilled.

I recognized it as one of the hidden pieces in the Tune World ga.

A weapon that reveals its true value only when infused with the player’s mana.

The mont I held it, the sword naturally resonated and lded with my mana.

Had I not gripped it, I wouldn’t have known it was the ‘Branch of the World Tree.’

How a divine relic like the Branch of the World Tree ended up in Tayon’s subspace, I didn’t know, but I was certain it was the best choice.

Even Tayon had said I chose well.

As I raised the wooden sword, the crowd in the plaza gasped.

Boom.

I drove the sword into the ground in front of the instructor’s feet.

Startled, he fell backward.

“Thank you for teaching all this ti!”

This wasn’t a planned action.

I felt both gratitude toward the instructor who had taught and resentnt for how he’d treated .

But all those emotions reached their conclusion the mont I drove the sword into the ground.

“Let’s go.”

With Tayon’s words, the group began to move.

Fifteen years since arriving in this world.

The ti for my expedition had finally co.

* * *

With Tayon’s declaration, the Coming-of-Age Ceremony procession left District 18.

The people of Gullok were still stunned but sent off the departing group with fervent applause.

“Gerd’s son got the special recomndation!”

“But, like the instructor said, Polarin wasn’t that remarkable, was he?”

“What are you saying? Are you implying Tayon made a bad call?”

“No, my son’s the sa age as Polarin. He said Polarin was always teased during lessons…”

The villagers kept clapping while adding their comnts.

Then the village chief approached and spoke.

“Do you all rember? Gerd’s son absorbed mana right after he was born.”

“Of course. Didn’t the Council of Elders send a mage to examine him back then?”

“I heard he definitely didn’t have the ‘Blessing of Mana’…”

But the chief shook his head and said,

“True. But the light that ca from that boy’s heart that day was real. I’ve lived a long ti, but I’ve never seen a light so bright. Nor will I ever again.”

The chief’s words resonated deeply with the people of Gullok, reminding them of the tis they’d been looked down upon as a lower autonomous region.

“Speaking of, did you see how he rushed at the instructor? I was watching Polarin closely, but I still missed it!”

“ too! I don’t know the details, but it was sothing incredible.”

“To think such a kid was in our village. How did we not know? We should’ve treated him better!”

“I hope Gerd wakes up soon to hear this…”

As the people of Gullok grew increasingly excited, the chief stopped one person and placed a hand on their shoulder.

“Who are you? You don’t seem to be from our autonomous region.”

The villagers’ attention turned to the sudden stranger.

*Tap.* *Tap.* Tap.

The man tapped the ground with a jet-black staff.

In that mont, the people of Gullock briefly lost sight of his movents.

The villagers were dumbfounded by the sudden occurrence and no wonder—the man appeared and vanished before their eyes, slipping through the crowd like smoke.

Reappearing far from the village, the man pulled a communication crystal from his cloak and made a call.

“Lord Milias, this is Pinnon of the Black Veil. Please forgive my abrupt contact. I have an urgent matter to report.”