F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 307: En-route Discussion

"Bro..." Caladbolg leaned closer, delaying his next words to add weight to their overall explosiveness: "YOU...ARE SO, SO OLD THA–"

"ENOUGH!!" roared Caleb, breathing heavily in frustration.

He had enough of the two old men arguing over who was older.

"You, old man! You’re so old that you’ve outlived your world! And you, Lord Caladbolg, you are quite literally older than the Seven Sword Guilds! Why not just accept that the two of you are old and settle it at that, huh?!"

Daru had been quite fascinated by the two elders’ taunting skills, watching them with great interest.

He had learned quite a lot about how to anger his opponents from them.

But then, Caleb suddenly interjected, lashing out with his tongue so hard that the elders could neither retort nor deny what he said.

Who knew his older friend had such potential?

Even Caladbolg and Nando were taken aback by the rather ruthless roast. Youngsters nowadays truly don’t have respect for their elders!

"Hmph!" both elders snorted, to which Caleb sighed.

Fortunately, Daru stepped in at the perfect time, though unintentionally:

"You both were great at taunting," he genuinely praised — catching both Caladbolg and Nando off guard — then continued, "You two should get along, though."

Daru turned his head to the latter.

"Old man, Big Ed is here to help you with your quest and take you back to our world. Oh, and he’s a Sword Saint."

Then to Caladbolg.

"Big Ed, aren’t you going to invite the old man to be an adviser, or something?"

Both elders cleared their throats in embarrassment.

They both needed something from each other, and throwing childish insults isn’t bettering their causes.

"A-A Sword Saint? W-Well, why didn’t you idiots lead with that? Right...This younger brother over here is the one who will help me with my quest, you say?"

Caladbolg, meanwhile, didn’t even hear what Nando said, lost in the thoughts of what he himself would say.

"How could I forget? Sigh...I’m really growing old...too old. Senile, even! How could I be lashing out like that at my wise Lil Bro Adviser?"

Caleb could not believe what he was hearing, especially from his respected idol, Sword Saint Caladbolg.

Shameless! These old men are shameless!

After speaking their minds, Caladbolg and Nando locked gazes, this time with amusement. ’Who is this kindred soul?’ was the resonating thought.

A moment later, they chuckled.

"Time for business, then. Lil Bro, can you tell me in detail what must be done?" Caladbolg dropped the needless animosity and asked. "These brats already told me, but I want to hear it from you so that we can be clear about the exact requirements."

Nando cleared his throat, suddenly a bit intimidated.

The unassuming old man before him, who didn’t seem much stronger than him based on muscle mass, turned out to be a big shot from another world of humans!

He hadn’t even seen someone like that from afar in his lost world.

"Alright, allow me to explain, younger brother Sword Saint Big Ed..."

Nando didn’t omit a single detail about his quest, fully trusting the helper Caleb brought. Once done, he retrieved the five heads from his inventory and handed them over to Caladbolg, who checked each one out before keeping them.

"Quite ugly fr fr," the exalted elder remarked before turning to Nando. "Lil Bro Adviser, wait for us here."

The old man nodded in agreement.

"Old man, you bett–"

"Bah! I don’t need your reminder, brat! Didn’t I keep my promise?"

"Hmph! Isn’t it just because we returned early? Who knows what crazy idea you would have acted on had we taken months? In any case, you’d better behave."

Nando only snorted in response.

Daru, meanwhile, bid a simple, temporary goodbye. They’ll be back in mere hours anyway.

Soon, the Neo-Earth trio left Egress. Caleb led the way to the Cemetery of the Damned.

Caladbolg pondered whether to carry the two with an arm each, but there were two problems.

First was that he only knew the general direction of their destination, and while this wasn’t too much of an issue, the fact that the brats might die traveling at such speeds prevented him from trying.

Since he also needed to talk to them, more specifically to Daru, the exalted elder decided to just take his time and appreciate the bleak scenery.

He could increase their speed slightly once they were done discussing.

"So, Lil Bro Daru, first of all, great job. I heard from this brat’s older sister that you did well in that recruitment event." Caladbolg started.

"Ah, right, Big Ed," Daru responded, to which Caleb interjected:

"D-Daru, don’t you think it’s a bit inappropriate to–"

Before he could finish his words, however, Caladbolg cut him off. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Shut yer trap, brat!"

The Sword Saint then turned to Daru with a grin. "You were saying?"

"I’ve been wondering why I was ordered to join Iron Lotus? Miss Hailey even said I can get comfortable and make bonds...are they our allies?" Daru continued.

Caladbolg burst into a short, uproarious laugh.

"Hell no! In fact, Iron Lotus is probably among those who hate us the most. They’ve almost been eradicated in the past because...well...one thing led to another, and our fragile partnership was discovered."

"Then why..."

"How the hell would I know what’s going on in that devilish brain of hers? I only take care of the rough work and leave the planning to those with megaminds. In any case, just trust her. She’s definitely cooking something up. If she told you to make yourself at home in Iron Lotus, then do it."

The two youngsters fell silent, pride welling in Caleb’s chest. His sister was indeed in a league of her own when it came to schemes.

"I see..."

Daru didn’t get the answer that he wanted, but somehow, the guarantee was all he needed.

He shall put his faith in Hailey.

The conversation about the matter that had been bugging him ended faster than Daru expected.

He expected a detailed explanation during this meeting, but as it turned out, even the exalted Sword Saint could not comprehend what Hailey was planning by sending him to Iron Lotus.

Limbo’s distorted silence was settling as he and Caleb dug into their thoughts when suddenly, Caladbolg began another conversation:

"Ah, right, Lil Bro Daru. I’ve decided to make time for this as the brat’s older sister suggested so we could also discuss another matter."

"Tell me your thoughts about participating in a high-stakes event where defeat could lead to a World Breach."